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S h ^e-5 jpe ^ V s ! v IV \ &.V10 . 

THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE 

General Editor , C. H. Herford, Litt.D., University of Manchester 

7 

THE 

TWO GENTLEMEN 
OF VERONA 7 

EDITED BY 

CHARLES WASHBURN NICHOLS/ Ph.D. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 



D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS 

LONDON 










1 


Copyright, 1931, 


By D. C. Heath and Company 
3 g 1 


No part of the material covered by this 
copyright may be reproduced in any form 
without written permission of the publisher. 




40724 


Printed in the United States of America 


AUG 




GENERAL PREFACE 


In this edition of Shakespeare an attempt is 
made to present the greater plays of the dramatist in 
their literary aspect, and not merely as material for 
the study of philology or grammar. Criticism purely 
verbal and textual has only been included to such an 
extent as may serve to help the student in the ap¬ 
preciation of the essential poetry. Questions of date 
and literary history have been fully dealt with in the 
Introductions, but the larger space has been devoted 
to the interpretative rather than the matter-of-fact 
order of scholarship. ^Esthetic judgments are never 
final, but the Editors have attempted to suggest 
points of view from which the analysis of dramatic 
motive and dramatic character may be profitably 
undertaken. In the Notes likewise, while it is hoped 
that all unfamiliar expressions and allusions have 
been adequately explained, yet it has been thought 
even more important to consider the dramatic value 
of each scene, and the part which it plays in relation 
to the whole. These general principles are common 
to the whole series; in detail each Editor is alone 
responsible for the play or plays that have been 
intrusted to him. 

Every volume of the series has been provided with 
a Glossary, an Essay upon Metre, and an Index; 
and Appendices have been added upon points of 
special interest which could not conveniently be 
treated in the Introduction or the Notes. The text 
is based by the several Editors on that of the Globe 
edition. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction . v 

Dramatis Persons . xii 

The Two Gentlemen of Verona .... 1 

Notes. 83 

Appendix—Versification. 95 

Glossary.103 

Index.107 


# 







INTRODUCTION 


1. History of the Play 

The first appearance of our play in print, so far as we 
know, was in the First Folio (1623), where it followed The 
Tempest as the second comedy in the volume. In connec¬ 
tion with the printing of the First Folio it was listed in the 
Stationers’ Register in November, 1623, among the plays 
“not formerly entred to other men.” It occupied the 
same position in the second, third, and fourth folios. It 
was divided into acts and scenes, and had the names of 
the characters appended. The text is remarkably clear 
and free from corruption, a fact which Theobald cites in 
his edition of Shakespeare in 1733 as the reason why his 
notes are fewer on this play than on any of the others. 
Dr. Johnson, in his edition of 1765, suspects that our play 
“has escaped corruption, only because being seldom played, 
it was less exposed to the hazards of transcription.” This 
is undoubtedly an accurate guess. 

The Two Gentlemen was revived, occasionally, in the 
eighteenth century, and did not escape the eighteenth- 
century custom of altering Shakespeare, the performance 
at Drury Lane, for example, in 1762, being “With Altera¬ 
tions and Additions.” Nineteenth-century performances 
of the play were few. In April, 1904, it was played at the 
Court Theatre in London, and drew from the pen of Mr. 
A. B. Walkley the most delightful impressionistic review 
that we possess. 1 “I went with no little misgiving,” he 
tells us, “and came away under so strong a charm that I 
almost told the cabman ‘To Mantua — by sea!’” 

2. Date of the Play 

There is no evidence which enables us to date The Two 
Gentlemen of Verona exactly. The play was mentioned 

1 Reprinted in Drama and Life (1908). 


vi THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 

for the first time by Francis Meres in his Palladis Tamia 
(1598), where it heads the list of six comedies given as 
examples of Shakespeare’s excellence in the comic field. 
The internal evidence of style and versification points to 
a much earlier date. The amount of poor and strained 
punning, the presence of doggerel couplets, and the stiff¬ 
ness of the blank verse 1 show early workmanship, but the 
metrical evidence is conflicting, since the rhymed pen¬ 
tameter lines are only one in seventeen, a smaller number 
than in any of the plays earlier than The Merchant of 
Venice. 

However, by a process of comparing the evidence offered 
by various scholars for other early plays we may arrive at 
a fairly exact estimate for the date of our own. Professor 
Baldwin, in his edition of The Comedy of Errors in the 
Arden series, 2 has given rather conclusive evidence to 
prove that (1) The Comedy of Errors must have been put 
into shape about the Christmas of 1589, and (2) The Two 
Gentlemen of Verona followed, rather than preceded, The 
Comedy of Errors. Professor Baldwin also points out 3 
that Mr. J. J. Munro 4 “has shown that The Two Gentle¬ 
men of Verona is earlier than Romeo and Juliet, thus not 

1 Furnivall’s tables show only one run-on line for ten end- 
stopped. Neilson and Thorndike ( The Facts about Shakespeare ) 
give the following percentages: Run-on lines, 12.4; speeches end¬ 
ing within the line, 5.8. They give no light or weak endings. 

2 See the Arden Comedy of Errors, x-xvi, and xxii-xxiv, and 
particularly the following statement, p. xxiv: “Incidentally, 
Shakespeare uses this same grouping of r6les and characters in 
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, where the comedians appear as the 
servants Launce and Speed (Kemp and Pope), attached re¬ 
spectively to Proteus and Valentine (Phillips and Bryance), 
exactly the same pairing as in The Comedy. Since in The Comedy 
this pairing is based on the source, it would seem that the iden¬ 
tical framework of Two Gentlemen, which is not suggested by 
what we know of its source, is borrowed from The Comedy, and 
that the former is consequently a later play.” 

3 Arden edition, p. xi. 

4 Munro, J. J., Brooke's “ Romeus and Juliet ,” pp. lv-lvii. 


INTRODUCTION 


Vll 


later than the winter season 1590-1591.” If we agree that 
Romeo and Juliet was first written in 1591, we might be 
compelled to accept 1590 as the date of our play. Most 
scholars, however, believe that the evidence for a Romeo 
and Juliet as early as 1591 is inconclusive, though Pro¬ 
fessor Adams suggests 1 that parts of the play had cer¬ 
tainly been written as early as 1593 or 1594. Moreover, 
no one believes that The Two Gentlemen was written before 
Love’s Labour’s Lost, and the evidence given by H. B. 
Charlton 2 shows that 1592 is the earliest date that can be 
assigned to the latter play. We are, on the whole, safe in 
assuming that The Two Gentlemen of Verona was written 
about 1592-1593. 


3. Source of the Plot 

The obvious source of the Proteus-Julia story is the 
Spanish prose romance, Diana (1559?), by the Portuguese 
novelist and poet, Montemayor. Julia corresponds to 
Montemayor’s heroine, Felismena, and Proteus to Monte- 
mayor’s hero, Don Felix. The chief points of resemblance 
include the scene where Julia’s waiting-woman gives her 
Proteus’s letter, the despatch of Proteus to Court, the 
pursuit of him by Julia, disguised as a young man, her 
lodging at an inn and hearing the serenade to her rival 
(who is called Celia in the romance), Julia’s taking service 
with Proteus as a page and being sent to Silvia (Celia) as 
a messenger from Proteus, the conversation between Julia 
and Silvia, and Silvia’s attitude toward the supposedly 
absent Julia and toward Proteus’s suit. There are numer¬ 
ous points of difference, including Shakespeare’s compres¬ 
sion of the tale, and Celia’s passion for the supposed page, 
an incident which Shakespeare used later in Twelfth Night, 
though he is there following Riche’s account of a similar 
passion in the tale of Apollonius and Silla. Celia, in 

1 J. Q. Adams, A Life of William Shakespeare, p. 219. 

2 The Modern Language Review, July-Oct., 1918. 


viii THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


Montemayor’s story, ends her own life when Felismena 
turns out to be a woman. 

How Shakespeare learned of this story is entirely a 
matter of conjecture. The earliest complete version in 
English is the translation by Bartholomew Yonge, 1598. 
In his preface, however, he states that his manuscript had 
been in existence for nearly sixteen years. Obviously 
Shakespeare may have become acquainted with the story 
in this way. There was also a French translation published 
in 1578. There is, further, a supposition that a play 
entered in the records of the Office of the Revels, 1584- 
1585, called Felix and Philiomena, “shewed and enacted 
before her highness by her Ma tea servauntes on the sondaie 
next after neweyeares daie at night at Grenewiche,” may 
have been a dramatic version of the Felix and Felismena 
story. We shall never know, for the play is not extant, 
whether it gave Shakespeare part of his plot, but knowing, 
as we do, that his method of work included the revamping 
of older plays, we may keep the notion in our minds as a 
possibility. 

It is idle to speculate concerning the source of the 
Valentine-Proteus friendship plot. Such speculations are 
based upon too slender evidence. Mr. Warwick Bond 
was the first to point out that Lyly’s Euphues has in it 
an incident concerning a false friend not unsuggestive in 
this connection, but the idea of friendship, with its im¬ 
plications of faithfulness or treachery, is a sufficiently 
Shakespearean idea, as the sonnets and other plays 
show. 

Concerning other possible borrowings it is sufficient to 
note that the outlaws may come from the Robin Hood 
ballads, and that the use of Verona, of Mantua as a place 
of exile, the rope ladder, and the rendezvous at the friar’s 
cell could all come from Shakespeare’s familiarity with 
Brooke’s poem, Romeus and Juliet, — a familiarity soon 
to be put to use in Romeo and Juliet. 


INTRODUCTION 


IX 


4. Critical Appreciation 

There are comparatively few people who ever have an 
opportunity to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona acted, 
and few among the casual readers of Shakespeare’s plays 
know anything of it. Even that great lover of Shake¬ 
speare, Christopher Morley, says: “Of The Two Gentlemen 
of Verona I confess I shall never remember much but the 
enchanting scene of the letter, and the clown and his 
dog.” 1 And yet the very reason why it has been so 
rarely acted is the reason why it should not be neglected 
by the Shakespearean student. It foreshadows in many 
ways the more successful comedies of the same type that 
were to come later from the same pen. In the words of 
Edward Dowden: “ The Two Gentlemen of Verona is more 
interesting as itself a source upon which Shakespeare 
drew in later and better plays than for its own sake. Its 
importance lies in the fact that it is the first of those 
romantic comedies of love which at a subsequent date 
are represented by such admirable creations as Much Ado , 
As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.” 2 

It is therefore both fascinating and instructive to dis¬ 
cover in our play the first use of situations and devices 
which were to become better known in later comedies. 
It holds, as one editor expresses it, “a store of stage- 
effects which Shakespeare kept henceforth in his locker, 
to try them and improve on them again and again.” 3 
From Julia we trace the line of heroines, modest and yet 
courageous, who take the high road of adventure disguised 
as young men. Launcelot Gobbo, in his ability to drama¬ 
tize a situation, reminds us of Launce. The discussion of 
the suitors by Portia and Nerissa is like the discussion 
between Julia and Lucetta, though vastly improved. Julia 
as a page, carrying a love-letter for the man she loves to 

1 Saturday Review of Literature, October 25, 1930. 

2 Preface to The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Oxford edition. 

3 Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, preface to The Two Gentlemen of 
Verona, Cambridge University Press. 


X 


THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


a rival, foreshadows Viola. The exchange of rings, the 
disclosure brought about by rings, the catalogue of the 
earmarks of being in love, the use of the forest and of 
outlaws, are but some of the repeated situations and de¬ 
vices which mark Shakespeare’s economy of invention. 
And so, as Dowden sums it up, “in the development of 
Shakespeare’s art, the present drama is of more signifi¬ 
cance than some plays which possess higher merit. It 
was a beginning; it was an experiment which led to much; 
it was a repertory of dramatic ideas; it brought Italy and 
romance into Shakespeare’s comedies.” 

The construction is far from flawless. The first two 
acts move somewhat slowly. It takes much maneuvering 
to get all the characters to Milan, though once they are 
there the plot moves ahead with considerable dramatic 
skill to the climax. As for the climax itself, it is far from 
satisfying. Valentine seems too easily deceived by Pro¬ 
teus’s sudden and forced repentance. And we are troubled 
by a denouement which gives Julia to the faithless Proteus. 
Yet, after all, it is only the customary ending of a romantic 
comedy. No realistic reader should break the spell of that 
ending with “Did they live happily ever after? ” Of course 
they did, as happily as Portia with Bassanio, or Hero with 
Claudio! 

The characterization is richer than that of The Comedy 
of Errors, but on the whole it shows Shakespeare’s im¬ 
maturity. The two young gentlemen, as their names 
imply, are types only. The young women, as is usual in 
the earlier plays, are better drawn than the young men. 
Julia, especially, stands out as an appealing figure, a 
worthy forerunner of Rosalind and Viola. Most of the 
other characters are of interest only through their use in 
the situations of the plot. Speed, with his tiresome jokes, 
is soon forgotten. Launce, however, is one of Shake¬ 
speare’s richest clowns, lifelike and human. He and his 
dog Crab are unforgettable. 


THE 

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


DRAMATIS PERSONS 


Duke of Milan .Father to Silvia 

Valentine! m. ^ 

Proteus J 

Antonio .Father to Proteus 

Thurio . A foolish rival to Valentine 

Eglamour .Agent for Silvia in her escape 

• Host .Where Julia lodges 

Outlaws .With Valentine 

Speed .A clownish servant to Valentine 

Launce .The like to Proteus 

Panthinq .Servant to Antonio 

Julia .Beloved of Proteus 

Silvia .Beloved of Valentine 

Lucetta .Waiting-woman to Julia 


Servants, Musicians 


SCENE— Verona; Milan; the frontiers of Mantua 
















THE TWO GENTLEMEN 
OF VERONA 


ACT I 


Scene I — Verona. An open place 
Enter Valentine and Proteus 

Val. Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus: 
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. 

Were’t not affection chains thy tender days 
To the sweet glances of thy honour’d love, 

I rather would entreat thy company 
To see the wonders of the world abroad 
Than, living dully sluggardized at home, 

Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. 

But since thou lov’st, love still and thrive therein. 
Even as I would when I to love begin. 

Pro. Wilt thou be gone ? Sweet Valentine, adieu ! 
Think on thy Proteus, when thou haply seest 
Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel: 

Wish me partaker in thy happiness 

When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger, 

If ever danger do environ thee, 

Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, 

For I will be thy beadsman, Valentine. 

Val. And on a love-book pray for my success? 
Pro. Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 
Val. That’s on some shallow story of deep love: 
How young Leander cross’d the Hellespont. 


2 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


Pro. That’s a deep story of a deeper love; 

For he was more than over shoes in love. 

Val. ’Tis true; for you are over boots in love, 
And yet you never swum the Hellespont. 

Pro. Over the boots ? nay, give me not the boots. 
Val. No, I will not, for it boots thee not. 

Pro. What ? 

Val. To be in love, where scorn is bought with 
groans; 

Coy looks with heart-sore sighs; one fading mo¬ 
ment’s mirth 

With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights: 

If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain; 

If lost, why then a grievous labour won; 

However, but a folly bought with wit. 

Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 

Pro. So, by your circumstance, you call me fool. 
Val. So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll 
prove. 

Pro. ’Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love. 

Val. Love is your master, for he masters you : 
And he that is so yoked by a fool, 

Methinks, should not be chronicled for wise. 

Pro. Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud 
The eating canker dwells, so eating love 
Inhabits in the finest wits of all. 

Val. And writers say, as the most forward bud 
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, 

Even so by love the young and tender wit 
Is turn’d to folly, blasting in the bud. 

Losing his verdure even in the prime 
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 3 


But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee 
That art a votary to fond desire ? 

Once more adieu! my father at the road 
Expects my coming, there to see me shipp’d. 

Pro. And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 
Val. Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our 
leave. 

To Milan let me hear from thee by letters 
Of thy success in love and what news else 
Betideth here in absence of thy friend; 

And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 

Pro. All happiness bechance to thee in Milan! 
Val. As much to you at home! and so, fare¬ 
well. 

[Exit. 

Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love : 

He leaves his friends to dignify them more; 

I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 

Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me, 

Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, 

War with good counsel, set the world at nought; 
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought. 

Enter Speed 

Speed. Sir Proteus, save you! Saw you my 
master ? 

Pro. But now he parted hence, to embark for 
Milan. 

Speed. Twenty to one then he is shipp’d already, 
And I have play’d the sheep in losing him. 

Pro. Indeed, a sheep doth very often stray, 

An if the shepherd be a while away. 


4 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


Speed. You conclude that my master is a shep¬ 
herd then and I a sheep ? 

Pro. I do. 

Speed. Why then, my horns are his horns, 
whether I wake or sleep. so 

Pro. A silly answer and fitting well a sheep. 

Speed. This proves me still a sheep. 

Pro. True ; and thy master a shepherd. 

Speed. Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance. 

Pro. It shall go hard but I’ll prove it by another. 

Speed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not 
the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and 
my master seeks not me: therefore I am no sheep. 

Pro. The sheep for fodder follow t'he shepherd; 
the shepherd for food follows not the sheep : thou 90 
for wages folio west thy master; thy master for wages 
follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep. 

Speed. Such another proof will make me cry 
‘baa.’ 

Pro. But, dost thou hear? gavest thou my 
letter to Julia ? 

Speed. Ay, sir : I, a lost mutton, gave your letter 
to her, a laced mutton, and she, a laced mutton, gave 
me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour. 

Pro. Here’s too small a pasture for such store of 100 
muttons. 

Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were 
best stick her. 

Pro. Nay: in that you are astray, ’twere best 
pound you. 

Speed. Nay, sir, less than a pound shall serve me 
for carrying your letter. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 5 


Pro. You mistake; I mean the pound, — a pin¬ 
fold. 

Speed. From a pound to a pin ? fold it over and 
over, no 

’Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your 
lover. 

Pro. But what said she ? 

Speed. [First nodding ] Ay. 

Pro. Nod -— Ay — why, that’s noddy. 

Speed. You mistook, sir; I say, she did nod : and 
you ask me if she did nod; and I say, ‘Ay.’ 

Pro. And that set together is noddy. 

Speed. Now you have taken the pains to set it 
together, take it for your pains. 

Pro. No, no; you shall have it for bearing the 120 
letter. 

Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear 
with you. 

Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me ? 

Speed. Marry, sir, the letter, very orderly; hav¬ 
ing nothing but the word ‘noddy’ for my pains. 

Pro. Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit. 

Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow 
purse. 

Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief : what 130 
said she? 

Speed. Open your purse, that the money and the 
matter may be both at once delivered. 

Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains. What said 
she ? 

Speed. Truly, sir, I think you’ll hardly win 
her. 


6 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 

Pro. Why, couldst thou perceive so much from 
her? 

Sjpeed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from uo 
her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your 
letter: and being so hard to me that brought your 
mind, I fear she’ll prove as hard to you in telling 
your mind. Give her no token but stones; for she’s 
as hard as steel. 

Pro. What said she ? nothing ? 

Speed. No, not so much as ‘Take this for thy 
pains.’ To testify your bounty, I thank you, you 
have testerned me; in requital whereof, henceforth 
carry your letters yourself : and so, sir, I’ll commend 150 
you to my master. 

Pro. Go, go, be gone, to save your ship from 
wreck, 

Which cannot perish having thee aboard, 

Being destined to a drier death on shore. 

[Exit Speed. 

I must go send some better messenger : 

I fear my Julia would not deign my lines. 

Receiving them from such a worthless post. [Exit. 

Scene II — The same. Garden of Julia’s house 
Enter Julia and Lucetta 

Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone, 

Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall in love ? 

Luc. Ay, madam, so you stumble not unheed- 
fully. 

Jul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen 
That every day with parle encounter me, 

In thy opinion which is worthiest love ? 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 7 


Luc. Please you repeat their names, I’ll show my 
mind 

According to my shallow simple skill. 

Jul. What think’st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour ? 
Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine; 10 
But, were I you, he never should be mine. 

Jul. What think’st thou of the rich Mercatio? 
Luc. Well of his wealth; but of himself, so so. 
Jul. What think’st thou of the gentle Proteus? 
Luc. Lord, Lord ! to see what folly reigns in us ! 
Jul. How now! what means this passion at his 
name ? 

Luc. Pardon, dear madam : ’tis a passing shame 
That I, unworthy body as I am. 

Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen. 

Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest ? 20 

Luc. Then thus : of many good I think him best. 
Jul. Your reason ? 

Luc. I have no other but a woman’s reason; I 
think him so because I think him so. 

Jul. And wouldst thou have me cast my love on 
him? 

Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not cast away. 
Jul. Why he, of all the rest, hath never moved 
me. 

Luc. Yet he, of all the rest, I think, best loves ye. 
Jul. His little speaking shows his love but small. 
Luc. Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all. 30 
Jul. They do not love that do not show their 
love. 

Luc. O, they love least that let men know their 
love. 


8 


TWO GENTLEMEN OE VERONA [Act I 

Jul. I would I knew his mind. 

Luc. Peruse this paper, madam. 

Jul. ‘To Julia. 5 Say, from whom? 

Luc. That the contents will show. 

Jul. Say, say, who gave it thee ? 

Luc. Sir Valentine’s page; and sent, I think, 
from Proteus. 

He would have given it you ; but I, being in the way, 
Did in your name receive it: pardon the fault, I 

pray. 40 

Jul. Now, by my modesty, a goodly broker 
Dare you presume to harbour wanton lines ? 

To whisper and conspire against my youth ? 

Now, trust me, 5 tis an office of great worth 
And you an officer fit for the place. 

There, take the paper : see it be return’d; 

Or else return no more into my sight. 

Luc. To plead for love deserves more fee than 
hate. 

Jul. Will ye be gone ? 

Luc. That you may ruminate. [Exit. 

Jul. And yet I would I had o’erlooked the letter: 50 
It were a shame to call her back again 
And pray her to a fault for which I chid her. 

What a fool is she, that knows I am a maid. 

And would not force the letter to my view! 

Since maids, in modesty, say ‘no’ to that 
Which they would have the profferer construe ‘ay.’ 
Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love 
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse 
And presently all humbled kiss the rod! 

How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence, 60 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 9 


When willingly I would have had her here! 

How angerly I taught my brow to frown, 

When inward joy enforced my heart to smile! 

My penance is to call Lucetta back 
And ask remission for my folly past. 

What ho ! Lucetta ! 

Re-enter Lucetta 

Luc. What would your ladyship ? 

Jul. Is’t near dinner-time ? 

Luc. I would it were, 

That you might kill your stomach on your meat 
And not upon your maid. 

Jul. What is’t that you took up so gingerly ? 
Luc. Nothing. 

Jul. Why didst thou stoop, then ? 

Luc. To take a paper up that I let fall. 

Jul. And is that paper nothing ? 

Luc. Nothing concerning me. 

Jul. Then let it lie for those that it concerns. 
Luc. Madam, it will not lie where it concerns, 
Unless it have a false interpreter. 

Jul. Some love of yours hath writ to you in 
rhyme. 

Luc. That I might sing it, madam, to a tune. 
Give me a note: your ladyship can set. 

Jul. As little by such toys as may be possible. 
Best sing it to the tune of ‘Light o’ love.’ 

Luc. It is too heavy for so light a tune. 

Jul. Heavy ! belike it hath some burden then ? 
Luc. Ay, and melodious were it, would you 
sing it. 


10 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


Jul. And why not you ? 

Luc. I cannot reach so high. 

Jul. Let’s see your song. How now, minion! 

Luc. Keep tune there still, so you will sing it out: 
And yet methinks I do not like this tune. 90 

Jul. You do not ? 

Luc. No, madam; it is too sharp. 

Jul. You, minion, are too saucy. 

Luc. Nay, now you are too flat 
And mar the concord with too harsh a descant: 

There wanteth but a mean to fill your song. 

Jul. The mean is drown’d with your unruly 
bass. 

Luc. Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus. 

Jul. This babble shall not henceforth trouble me. 
Here is a coil with protestation ! \_Tears the letter. 

Go get you gone, and let the papers lie : 100 

You would be fingering them, to anger me. 

Luc. She makes it strange; but she would be 
best pleased 

To be so anger’d with another letter. [Exit. 

Jul. Nay, would I were so anger’d with the same ! 

O hateful hands, to tear such loving words ! 

Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey 
And kill the bees that yield it with your stings ! 

I’ll kiss each several paper for amends. 

Look, here is writ ‘kind Julia.’ Unkind Julia ! 

As in revenge of thy ingratitude, no 

I throw thy name against the bruising stones. 
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain. 

And here is writ ‘love-wounded Proteus.’ 

Poor wounded name ! my bosom as a bed 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 11 


Shall lodge thee till thy wound be throughly heal’d; 
And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss. 

But twice or thrice was ‘ Proteus ’ written down. 

Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away 
Till I have found each letter in the letter, 

Except mine own name : that some whirlwind bear 120 
Unto a ragged fearful-hanging rock 
And throw it thence into the raging sea! 

Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ, 

‘ Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus, 

To the sweet Julia that I’ll tear away. 

And yet I will not, sith so prettily 
He couples it to his complaining names. 

Thus will I fold them one upon another: 

Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will. 

Re-enter Lucetta 

Luc. Madam, 130 

Dinner is ready, and your father stays. 

Jul. Well, let us go. 

Luc. What, shall these papers lie like tell-tales 
here ? 

Jul. If you respect them, best to take them 
up. 

Luc. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down : 
Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold. 

Jul. I see you have a month’s mind to them. 

Luc. Ay, madam, you may say what sights you 
see; 

I see things too, although you judge I wink. 

Jul. Come, come; will’t please you go ? 140 

[ Exeunt. 


12 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


Scene III — The same. Antonio’s house 
Enter Antonio and Panthino 

Ant. Tell me, Panthino, what sad talk was that 
Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister? 

Pan. ’Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son. 

Ant. Why, what of him ? 

Pan. He wonder’d that your lordship 

Would suffer him to spend his youth at home, 

While other men, of slender reputation, 

Put forth their sons to seek preferment out: 

Some to the wars, to try their fortune there; 

Some to discover islands far away; 

Some to the studious universities. 10 

For any or for all these exercises 
He said that Proteus your son was meet. 

And did request me to importune you 
To let him spend his time no more at home, 

Which would be great impeachment to his age. 

In having known no travel in his youth. 

Ant. Nor need’st thou much importune me to 
that 

Whereon this month I have been hammering. 

I have consider’d well his loss of time 

And how he cannot be a perfect man, 20 

Not being tried and tutor’d in the world: 

Experience is by industry achieved 
And perfected by the swift course of time. 

Then tell me, whither were I best to send him ? 

Pan. I think your lordship is not ignorant 
How his companion, youthful Valentine, 

Attends the emperor in his royal court. 


Scene III] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 13 


Ant. I know it well. 

Pan. ’Twere good, I think, your lordship sent 
him thither: 

There shall he practise tilts and tournaments, 

Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen, 

And be in eye of every exercise 
Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth. 

Ant. I like thy counsel; well hast thou advised : 
And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it 
The execution of it shall make known. 

Even with the speediest expedition 
I will dispatch him to the emperor’s court. 

Pan. To-morrow, may it please you, Don Al- 
phonso 

With other gentlemen of good esteem 
Are journeying to salute the emperor 
And to commend their service to his will. 

Ant. Good company; with them shall Proteus 
go: 

And, in good time ! now will we break with him. 
Enter Proteus 

Pro. Sweet love ! sweet lines ! sweet life ! 

Here is her hand, the agent of her heart; 

Here is her oath for love, her honour’s pawn. 

O, that our fathers would applaud our loves, 

To seal our happiness with their consents! 

O heavenly Julia! 

Ant. How now! what letter are you reading 
there ? 

Pro. May’t please your lordship, ’tis a word or 
two 


14 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


Of commendations sent from Valentine, 

Deliver’d by a friend that came from him. 

Ant. Lend me the letter; let me see what news. 
Pro. There is no news, my lord, but that he 
writes 

How happily he lives, how well beloved 
And daily graced by the emperor; 

Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune. 

Ant. And how stand you affected to his wish ? 
Pro. As one relying on your lordship’s will 
And not depending on his friendly wish. 

Ant. My will is something sorted with his wish. 
Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed; 

For what I will, I will, and there an end. 

I am resolved that thou shalt spend some time 
With Valentinus in the emperor’s court: 

What maintenance he from his friends receives, 

Like exhibition thou shalt have from me. 

To-morrow be in readiness to go; 

Excuse it not, for I am peremptory. 

Pro. My lord, I cannot be so soon provided. 
Please you, deliberate a day or two. 

Ant. Look, what thou want’st shall be sent after 
thee: 

No more of stay! to-morrow thou must go. 

Come on, Panthino : you shall be employ’d 
To hasten on his expedition. 

[.Exeunt Ant. and Pan. 
Pro. Thus have I shunn’d the fire for fear of 
burning, 

And drench’d me in the sea, where I am drown’d. 

I fear’d to show my father Julia’s letter, 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 15 

Lest he should take exceptions to my love; 

And with the vantage of mine own excuse 
Hath he excepted most against my love. 

O, how this spring of love resembleth 
The uncertain glory of an April day, 

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, 

And by and by a cloud takes all away! 

Re-enter Panthino 

Pan. Sir Proteus, your father calls for you : 

He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go. 

Pro. Why, this it is : my heart accords thereto, 
And yet a thousand times it answers ‘no.' 

[ Exeunt. 

ACT II 

Scene I — Milan. The Duke’s 'palace 
Enter Valentine and Speed 
Speed. Sir, your glove. 

Val. Not mine ; my gloves are on. 

Speed. Why, then, this may be yours, for this is 
but one. 

Val. Ha ! let me see : ay, give it me, it’s mine : 
Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine ! 

Ah, Silvia, Silvia! 

Speed. Madam Silvia ! Madam Silvia! 

Val. How now, sirrah ? 

Speed. She is not within hearing, sir. 

Val. Why, sir, who bade you call her ? 

Speed. Your worship, sir; or else I mistook. 
Val. Well, you’ll still be too forward. 


90 


10 



16 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 

Speed. And yet I was last chidden for being too 
slow. 

Val. Go to, sir: tell me, do you know Madam 
Silvia ? 

Speed. She that your worship loves ? 

Val. Why, how know you that I am in love ? 

Speed. Marry, by these special marks : first, you 
have learned, like Sir Proteus, to wreathe your arms, 
like a malecontent; to relish a love-song, like a 20 
robin-redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had the 
pestilence; to sigh, like a schoolboy that had lost his 
ABC; to weep, like a young wench that had buried 
her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet; to 
watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling, 
like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when 
you laughed, to crow like a cock; when you walked, 
to walk like one of the lions ; when you fasted, it was 
presently after dinner; when you looked sadly, it 
was for want of money : and now you are metamor- 30 
phosed with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I 
can hardly think you my master. 

Val. Are all these things perceived in me? 

Speed. They are all perceived without ye. 

Val. Without me? they cannot. 

Speed. Without you? nay, that’s certain, for, 
without you were so simple, none else would : but 
you are so without these follies, that these follies are 
within you and shine through you like the water in 
an urinal, that not an eye that sees you but is a 40 
physician to comment on your malady. 

Val. But tell me, dost thou know my lady 
Silvia ? 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 17 


Speed. She that you gaze on so as she sits at 
supper ? 

Val. Hast thou observed that? even she, I 
mean. 

Speed. Why, sir, I know her not. 

Val. Dost thou know her by my gazing on her, 
and yet knowest her not ? 

Speed. Is she not hard-favoured, sir ? so 

Val. Not so fair, boy, as well-favoured. 

Speed. Sir, I know that well enough. 

Val. What dost thou know? 

Speed. That she is not so fair as, of you, well 
favoured. 

Val. I mean that her beauty is exquisite, but her 
favour infinite. 

Speed. That’s because the one is painted and the 
other out of all count. 

Val. How painted? and how out of count? 60 

Speed. Marry, sir, so painted, to make her fair, 
that no man counts of her beauty. 

Val. How esteemest thou me ? I account of her 
beauty. 

Speed. You never saw her since she was de¬ 
formed. 

Val. How long hath she been deformed? 

Speed. Ever since you loved her. 

Val. I have loved her ever since I saw her; and 
still I see her beautiful. 70 

Speed. If you love her, you cannot see her. 

Val. Why? 

Speed. Because Love is blind. O, that you had 
mine eyes; or your own eyes had the lights they 


18 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


were wont to have when you chid at Sir Proteus for 
going ungartered! 

Val. What should I see then ? 

Speed. Your own present folly and her passing 
deformity: for he, being in love, could not see to 
garter his hose, and you, being in love, cannot see to so 
put on your hose. 

Val. Belike, boy, then, you are in love; for last 
morning you could not see to wipe my shoes. 

Speed. True, sir; I was in love with my bed : I 
thank you, you swinged me for my love, which makes 
me the bolder to chide you for yours. 

Val. In conclusion, I stand affected to her. 

Speed. I would you were set, so your affection 
would cease. 

Val. Last night she enjoined me to write some 90 
lines to one she loves. 

Speed. And have you ? 

Val. I have. 

Speed. Are they not lamely writ ? 

Val. No, boy, but as well as I can do them. 
Peace ! here she comes. 

Speed. [Aside'] O excellent motion ! O exceed¬ 
ing puppet! Now will he interpret to her. 

Enter Silvia 

Val. Madam and mistress, a thousand good- 
morrows. 100 

Speed. [Aside] O, give ye good even! here’s a 
million of manners. 

Sil. Sir Valentine and servant, to you two 
thousand. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 19 


Speed. [Aside ] He should give her interest, and 
she gives it him. 

Val. As you enjoin’d me, I have writ your letter 
Unto the secret nameless friend of yours; 

Which I was much unwilling to proceed in 
But for my duty to your ladyship. no 

Sil. I thank you, gentle servant: ’tis very 
clerkly done. 

Val. Now trust me, madam, it came hardly off; 
For being ignorant to whom it goes 
I writ at random, very doubtfully. 

Sil. Perchance you think too much of so much 
pains ? 

Val. No, madam; so it stead you, I will write, 
Please you command, a thousand times as much; 

And yet — 

Sil. A pretty period ! Well, I guess the sequel; 
And yet I will not name it; and yet I care not; 120 

And yet take this again; and yet I thank you, 
Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more. 

Speed. [Aside] And yet you will; and yet an¬ 
other ‘yet.’ 

Val. What means your ladyship? do you not 
like it ? 

Sil. Yes, yes : the lines are very quaintly writ; 
But since unwillingly, take them again. 

Nay, take them. 

Val. Madam, they are for you. 

Sil. Ay, ay : you writ them, sir, at my request; 
But I will none of them ; they are for you; 130 

I would have had them writ more movingly. 

Val. Please you, I’ll write your ladyship another. 


20 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


Sil. And when it’s writ, for my sake read it over, 
And if it please you, so; if not, why, so. 

Val. If it please me, madam, what then ? 

Sil. Why, if it please you, take it for your labour : 
And so, good morrow, servant. [Exit. 

Speed. O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible. 

As a nose on a man’s face, or a weathercock on a 
steeple! 

My master sues to her, and she hath taught her 

suitor, 140 

He being her pupil, to become her tutor. 

O excellent device! was there ever heard a better, 
That my master, being scribe, to himself should 
write the letter ? 

Val. How now, sir ? what are you reasoning with 
yourself ? 

Speed. Nay, I was rhyming : ’tis you that have 
the reason. 

Val. To do what? 

Speed. To be a spokesman from Madam Silvia. 
Val. To whom? 150 

Speed. To yourself: why, she wooes you by a 
figure. 

Val. What figure? 

Speed. By a letter, I should say. 

Val. Why, she hath not writ to me? 

Speed. What need she, when she hath made you 
write to yourself? Why, do you not perceive the 
jest? 

Val. No, believe me. 

Speed. No believing you, indeed, sir. But did 
you perceive her earnest ? 


160 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 21 


Val. She gave me none, except an angry word. 
Speed. Why, she hath given you a letter. 

Val. That’s the letter I writ to her friend. 

Speed. And that letter hath she delivered, and 
there an end. 

Val. I would it were no worse. 

Speed. I’ll warrant you, ’tis as well : 

For often have you writ to her, and she, in modesty, 

Or else for want of idle time, could not again reply; 

Or fearing else some messenger that might her mind 

discover, 170 

Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto 
her lover. 

All this I speak in print, for in print I found it. 

Why muse you, sir ? ’tis dinner-time. 

Val. I have dined. 

Speed. Ay, but hearken, sir; though the chame¬ 
leon Love can feed on the air, I am one that am 
nourished by my victuals and would fain have meat. 

O, be not like your mistress; be moved, be moved. 

[ Exeunt . 

Scene II — Verona. Julia’s house 
Enter Proteus and Julia 

Pro. Have patience, gentle Julia. 

Jul. I must, where is no remedy. 

Pro. When possibly I can, I will return. 

Jul. If you turn not, you will return the sooner. 
Keep this remembrance for thy Julia’s sake. 

[Giving a ring. 

Pro. Why, then, we’ll make exchange; here, 
take you this. 


22 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 

Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss. 

Pro. Here is my hand for my true constancy; 

And when that hour o’erslips me in the day 
Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake, 10 

The next ensuing hour some foul mischance 
Torment me for my love’s forgetfulness ! 

My father stays my coming; answer not; 

The tide is now: nay, not thy tide of tears; 

That tide will stay me longer than I should. 

Julia, farewell! [_Exit Julia. 

What, gone without a word ? 

Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak; 

For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it. 

Enter Panthino 

Pan. Sir Proteus, you are stay’d for. 

Pro. Go; I come, I come. 20 

Alas ! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb. 

[ Exeunt. 

Scene III — The same. A street 
Enter Launce, leading a dog 

Launce. Nay, ’twill be this hour ere I have done 
weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very 
fault. I have received my proportion, like the pro¬ 
digious son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the 
Imperial’s court. I think Crab my dog be the 
sourest-natured dog that lives : my mother weeping, 
my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howl¬ 
ing, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in 
a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur 
shed one tear : he is a stone, a very pebble stone, and 10 


Scene III] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 23 


has no more pity in him than a dog: a Jew would 
have wept to have seen our parting; why, my 
grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself 
blind at my parting. Nay, I’ll show you the manner 
of it. This shoe is my father : no, this left shoe is my 
father: no, no, this left shoe is my mother: nay, 
that cannot be so neither: yes, it is so, it is so, it 
hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in it, 
is my mother, and this my father; a vengeance on’t! 
there ’tis : now, sir, this staff is my sister, for, look 20 
you, she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand : 
this hat is Nan, our maid : I am the dog: no, the 
dog is himself, and I am the dog — Oh ! the dog is 
me, and I am myself; ay, so, so. Now come I to 
my father; Father, your blessing: now should not 
the shoe speak a word for weeping: now should I 
kiss my father; well, he weeps on. Now come I to 
my mother: O, that she could speak now like a 
wood woman! Well, I kiss her; why, there ’tis; 
here’s my mother’s breath up and down. Now come 30 
I to my sister; mark the moan she makes. Now the 
dog all this while sheds not a tear nor speaks a word; 
but see how I lay the dust with my tears. 

Enter Panthino 

Pan. Launce, away, away, aboard! thy master 
is shipped and thou art to post after with oars. 
What’s the matter ? why weepest thou, man ? 
Away, ass ! you’ll lose the tide, if you tarry any 
longer. 

Launce. It is no matter if the tied were lost; for 
it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied. 40 


24 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


Pan. What’s the unkindest tide ? 

Launce. Why, he that’s tied here, Crab, my dog. 

Pan. Tut, man, I mean thou’lt lose the flood, 
and, in losing the flood, lose thy voyage, and, in 
losing thy voyage, lose thy master, and, in losing 
thy master, lose thy service, and, in losing thy 
service, — Why dost thou stop my mouth ? 

Launce. For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue. 

Pan. Where should I lose my tongue ? 

Launce. In thy tale. 

Pan. In thy tail! 

Launce. Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the 
master, and the service, and the tied! Why, man, 
if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with my 
tears ; if the wind were down, I could drive the boat 
with my sighs. 

Pan. Come, come away, man; I was sent to 
call thee. 

Launce. Sir, call me what thou darest. 

Pan. Wilt thou go ? 

Launce. Well, I will go. [ Exeunt. 

Scene IV — Milan. The Duke’s 'palace 
Enter Silvia, Valentine, Thurio, and Speed 

Sil. Servant! 

Val. Mistress? 

Speed. Master, Sir Thurio frowns on you. 

Val. Ay, boy, it’s for love. 

Speed. Not of you. 

Val. Of my mistress, then. 

Speed. ’Twere good you knocked him. \_Exit. 

Sil. Servant, you are sad. 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 25 


Val. Indeed, madam, I seem so. 

Thu. Seem you that you are not ? 

Val. Haply I do. 

Thu. So do counterfeits. 

Val. So do you. 

Thu. What seem I that I am not? 

Val. Wise. 

Thu. What instance of the contrary? 

Val. Your folly. 

Thu. And how quote you my folly ? 

Val. I quote it in your jerkin. 

Thu. My jerkin is a doublet. 

Val. Well, then, I’ll double your folly. 

Thu. How ? 

Sil. What, angry, Sir Thurio! do you change 
colour ? 

Val. Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of 
chameleon. 

Thu. That hath more mind to feed on your blood 
than live in your air. 

Val. You have said, sir. 

Thu. Ay, sir, and done too, for this time. 

Val. I know it well, sir; you always end ere you 
begin. 

Sil. A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and 
quickly shot off. 

Val. ’Tis indeed, madam; we thank the giver. 

Sil. Who is that, servant ? 

Val. Yourself, sweet lady; for you gave the fire. 
Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship’s 
looks, and spends what he borrows kindly in your 
company. 


10 

20 

30 

40 


26 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 

Thu. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I 
shall make your wit bankrupt. 

Val. I know it well, sir; you have an exchequer 
of words, and, I think, no other treasure to give 
your followers, for it appears, by their bare liveries, 
that they live by your bare words. 

Sil. No more, gentlemen, no more: here comes 
my father. 


Enter Duke 

Duke. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset. 
Sir Valentine, your father’s in good health: 

What say you to a letter from your friends 
Of much good news ? 

Val. My lord, I will be thankful 

To any happy messenger from thence. 

Duke. Know ye Don Antonio, your countryman ? 
Val. Ay, my good lord, I know the gentleman 
To be of worth and worthy estimation 
And not without desert so well reputed. 

Duke. Hath he not a son ? 

Val. Ay, my good lord; a son that well deserves 
The honour and regard of such a father. 

Duke. You know him well ? 

Val. I know him as myself ; for from our infancy 
We have conversed and spent our hours together: 
And though myself have been an idle truant, 
Omitting the sweet benefit of time 
To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection. 

Yet hath Sir Proteus, for that’s his name, 

Made use and fair advantage of his days; 

His years but young, but his experience old; 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 27 


His head unmellow’d, but his judgement ripe; 70 

And, in a word, for far behind his worth 
Comes all the praises that I now bestow, 

He is complete in feature and in mind 
With all good grace to grace a gentleman. 

Duke. Beshrew me, sir, but if he make this good, 

He is as worthy for an empress’ love 
As meet to be an emperor’s counsellor. 

Well, sir, this gentleman is come to me, 

With commendation from great potentates; 

And here he means to spend his time awhile : so 

I think ’tis no unwelcome news to you. 

Val. Should I have wish’d a thing, it had been he. 
Duke. Welcome him then according to his worth. 
Silvia, I speak to you, and you, Sir Thurio; 

For Valentine, I need not cite him to it: 

I will send him hither to you presently. [Exit. 

Val. This is the gentleman I told your ladyship 
Had come along with me, but that his mistress 
Did hold his eyes lock’d in her crystal looks. 

Sil. Belike that now she hath enfranchised them 90 
Upon some other pawn for fealty. 

Val. Nay, sure, I think she holds them prisoners 
still. 

Sil. Nay, then he should be blind; and, being 
blind, 

How could he see his way to seek out you ? 

Val. Why, lady, Love hath twenty pair of eyes. 
Thu. They say that Love hath not an eye at 
all. 

Val. To see such lovers, Thurio, as yourself: 

Upon a homely object Love can wink. 


28 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


Sil. Have done, have done; here comes the 
gentleman. 

Enter Proteus 

Val. Welcome, dear Proteus! Mistress, I be¬ 
seech you, 100 

Confirm his welcome with some special favour. 

Sil. His worth is warrant for his welcome hither, 

If this be he you oft have wish’d to hear from. 

Val. Mistress, it is : sweet lady, entertain him 
To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship. 

Sil. Too low a mistress for so high a servant. 

Pro. Not so, sweet lady : but too mean a servant 
To have a look of such a worthy mistress. 

Val. Leave off discourse of disability : 

Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant. no 

Pro. My duty will I boast of; nothing else. 

Sil. And duty never yet did want his meed : 
Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mistress. 

Pro. I’ll die on him that says so but yourself. 

Sil. That you are welcome ? 

Pro. That you are worthless. 

Re-enter Thurio 

Thu. Madam, my lord your father would speak 
with you. 

Sil. I wait upon his pleasure. Come, Sir Thurio, 

Go with me. Once more, new servant, welcome : 

I’ll leave you to confer of home affairs; 

When you have done, we look to hear from you. 120 
Pro. We’ll both attend upon your ladyship. 

[Exeunt Silvia and Thurio. 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 29 


Val. Now, tell me, how do all from whence you 
came ? 

Pro. Your friends are well and have them much 
commended. 

Val. And how do yours ? 

Pro. I left them all in health. 

Val. How does your lady? and how thrives 
your love ? 

Pro. My tales of love were wont to weary you; 

I know you joy not in a love-discourse. 

Val. Ay, Proteus, but that life is alter’d now: 

I have done penance for contemning Love, 

Whose high imperious thoughts have punish’d me 130 
With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, 

With nightly tears and daily heart-sore sighs; 

For in revenge of my contempt of love, 

Love hath chased sleep from my enthralled eyes 
And made them watchers of mine own heart’s sorrow. 

O gentle Proteus, Love’s a mighty lord 
And hath so humbled me as I confess 
There is no woe to his correction 
Nor to his service no such joy on earth. 

Now no discourse, except it be of love; 140 

Now can I break my fast, dine, sup and sleep, 

Upon the very naked name of love. 

Pro. Enough; I read your fortune in your eye. 
Was this the idol that you worship so ? 

Val. Even she; and is she not a heavenly saint ? 
Pro. No ; but she is an earthly paragon. 

Val. Call her divine. 

Pro. I will not flatter her. 

Val. O, flatter me; for love delights in praises. 


30 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills, 
And I must minister the like to you. 150 

Val. Then speak the truth by her; if not divine. 
Yet let her be a principality, 

Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. 

Pro. Except my mistress. 

Val. Sweet, except not any; 

Except thou wilt except against my love. 

Pro. Have I not reason to prefer mine own ? 

Val. And I will help thee to prefer her too : 

She shall be dignified with this high honour — 

To bear my lady’s train, lest the base earth 

Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss 160 

And, of so great a favour growing proud, 

Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower 
And make rough winter everlastingly. 

Pro. Why, Valentine, what braggardism is this ? 
Val. Pardon me, Proteus : all I can is nothing 
To her whose worth makes other worthies nothing; 
She is alone. 

Pro. Then let her alone. 

Val. Not for the world : why, man, she is mine 
own, 

And I as rich in having such a jewel 

As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, 170 

The water nectar and the rocks pure gold. 

Forgive me that I do not dream on thee. 

Because thou see’st me dote upon my love. 

My foolish rival, that her father likes 
Only for his possessions are so huge. 

Is gone with her along, and I must after. 

For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy. 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 31 


Pro. But she loves you ? 

Val. Ay, and we are betroth’d: nay, more, our 
marriage-hour, 

With all the cunning manner of our flight, 
Determined of; how I must climb her window, 

The ladder made of cords, and all the means 
Plotted and ’greed on for my happiness. 

Good Proteus, go with me to my chamber. 

In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel. 

Pro. Go on before ; I shall inquire you forth : 

I must unto the road, to disembark 
Some necessaries that I needs must use, 

And then I’ll presently attend you. 

Val. Will you make haste ? 

Pro. I will. [Exit Valentine. 

Even as one heat another heat expels, 

Or as one nail by strength drives out another, 

So the remembrance of my former love 
Is by a newer object quite forgotten. 

Is it mine, or Valentine’s praise, 

Her true perfection, or my false transgression, 

That makes me reasonless to reason thus ? 

She is fair; and so is Julia that I love — 

That I did love, for now my love is thaw’d; 

Which, like a waxen image ’gainst a fire, 

Bears no impression of the thing it was. 

Me thinks my zeal to Valentine is cold, 

And that I love him not as I was wont. 

O, but I love his lady too too much, 

And that’s the reason I love him so little. 

How shall I dote on her with more advice, 

That thus without advice begin to love her! 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


’Tis but her picture I have yet beheld, 

And that hath dazzled my reason’s light; 210 

But when I look on her perfections, 

There is no reason but I shall be blind. 

If I can check my erring love, I will; 

If not, to compass her I’ll use my skill. [Exit. 

Scene V — The same. A street 
Enter Speed and Launce severally 

Speed. Launce! by mine honesty, welcome to 
Milan! 

Launce. Forswear not thyself, sweet youth, for 
I am not welcome. I reckon this always, that a man 
is never undone till he be hanged, nor never welcome 
to a place till some certain shot be paid and the host¬ 
ess say ‘Welcome!’ 

Speed. Come on, you madcap, I’ll to the alehouse 
with you presently ; where, for one shot of five pence, 
thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But, sirrah, 10 
how did thy master part with Madam Julia ? 

Launce. Marry, after they closed in earnest, they 
parted very fairly in jest. 

Speed. But shall she marry him ? 

Launce. No. 

Speed. How then ? shall he marry her ? 

Launce. No, neither. 

Speed. What, are they broken ? 

Launce. No, they are both as whole as a fish. 

Speed. Why, then, how stands the matter with 20 
them ? 

Launce. Marry, thus; when it stands well with 
him, it stands well with her. 


Scene V] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 33 


Speed. What an ass art thou ! I understand thee 
not. 

Launce. What a block art thou, that thou canst 
not! My staff understands me. 

Speed. What thou sayest? 

Launce. Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I’ll 
but lean, and my staff understands me. 30 

Speed. It stands under thee, indeed. 

Launce. Why, stand-under and under-stand is all 
one. 

Speed. But tell me true, will’t be a match ? 

Launce. Ask my dog : if he say ay, it will; if he 
say no, it will; if he shake his tail and say nothing, 
it will. 

Speed. The conclusion is then that it will. 

Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from 
me but by a parable. 40 

Speed. ’Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, 
how sayest thou, that my master is become a notable 
lover ? 

Launce. I never knew him otherwise. 

Speed. Than how ? 

Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him 
to be. 

Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest 
me. 

Launce. Why, fool, I meant not thee; I meant 50 
thy master. 

Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot 
lover. 

Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he 
burn himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the 


34 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


alehouse ; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not 
worth the name of a Christian. 

Speed. Why ? 

Launce. Because thou hast not so much charity 
in thee as to go to the ale with a Christian. Wilt 
thou go ? 

Speed. At thy service. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI — The same. The Duke’s 'palace 
Enter Proteus 

Pro. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; 

To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; 

To wrong my friend, I shall be much forsworn; 

And even that power which gave me first my oath 
Provokes me to this threefold perjury; 

Love bade me swear and Love bids me forswear. 

O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn’d, 

Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it! 

At first I did adore a twinkling star, 

But now I worship a celestial sun. 

Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken, 

And he wants wit that wants resolved will 
To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better. 

Fie, fie, unreverend tongue ! to call her bad, 

Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr’d 
With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths. 

I cannot leave to'love, and yet I do; 

But there I leave to love where I should love 
Julia I lose and Valentine I lose: 

If I keep them, I needs must lose myself; 

If I lose them, thus find I by their loss 
For Valentine myself, for Julia Silvia. 


Scene VII] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 35 


I to myself am dearer than a friend, 

For love is still most precious in itself; 

And Silvia — witness Heaven, that made her fair! — 
Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope. 

I will forget that Julia is alive, 

Remembering that my love to her is dead; 

And Valentine I’ll hold an enemy, 

Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend. 

I cannot now prove constant to myself, 

Without some treachery used to Valentine. 

This night he meaneth with a corded ladder 
To climb celestial Silvia’s chamber-window, 

Myself in counsel, his competitor. 

Now presently I’ll give her father notice 
Of their disguising and pretended flight; 

Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine; 

For Thurio, he intends, shall wed his daughter; 

But, Valentine being gone, I’ll quickly cross 
By some sly trick blunt Thurio’s dull proceeding. 
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift, 

As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift! [ Exit. 

Scene VII — Verona. Julia’s house 
Enter Julia and Lucetta 

Jul. Counsel, Lucetta; gentle girl, assist me; 
And even in kind love I do conjure thee. 

Who art the table wherein all my thoughts 
Are visibly character’d and engraved. 

To lesson me and tell me some good mean 
How, with my honour, I may undertake 
A journey to my loving Proteus. 

Luc. Alas, the way is wearisome and long! 


36 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


Jul. A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary 
To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; 

Much less shall she that hath Love’s wings to fly, 
And when the flight is made to one so dear, 

Of such divine perfection, as Sir Proteus. 

Luc. Better forbear till Proteus make return. 

Jul. O, know’st thou not his looks are my soul’s 
food ? 

Pity the dearth that I have pined in, 

By longing for that food so long a time. 

Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, 

Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow 
As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 

Luc. I do not seek to quench your love’s hot fire, 
But qualify the fire’s extreme rage, 

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. 
Jul. The more thou damm’st it up, the more it 
burns. 

The current that with gentle murmur glides, 

Thou know’st, being stopp’d, impatiently doth rage ; 
But when his fair course is not hindered, 

He makes sweet music with the enamell’d stones, 
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge 
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage, 

And so by many winding nooks he strays 
With willing sport to the wild ocean. 

Then let me go and hinder not my course : 

I’ll be as patient as a gentle stream 
And make a pastime of each weary step. 

Till the last step have brought me to my love; 

And there I’ll rest, as after much turmoil 
A blessed soul doth in Elysium. 


Scene VII] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 37 


Luc. But in what habit will you go along ? 

Jul. Not like a woman; for I would prevent 40 
The loose encounters of lascivious men: 

Gentle Lucetta, fit me with such weeds 
As may beseem some well-reputed page. 

Luc. Why, then, your ladyship must cut your 
hair. 

Jul. No, girl; I’ll knit it up in silken strings 
With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots. 

To be fantastic may become a youth 
Of greater time than I shall show to be. 

Luc. What fashion, madam, shall I make your 
breeches ? 

Jul. That fits as well as ‘Tell me, good my lord, 50 
What compass will you wear your farthingale P ’ 

Why even what fashion thou best likest, Lucetta. 

Luc. You must needs have them with a codpiece, 
madam. 

Jul. Out, out, Lucetta ! that will be ill-favour’d. 
Luc. A round hose, madam, now’s not worth a 
pin, 

Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on. 

Jul. Lucetta, as thou lovest me, let me have 
What thou thinkest meet and is most mannerly. 

But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me 
For undertaking so unstaid a journey ? 60 

I fear me, it will make me scandalized. 

Luc. If you think so, then stay at home and go 
not. 

Jul. Nay, that I will not. 

Luc. Then never dream on infamy, but go. 

If Proteus like your journey when you come, 


38 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


No matter who’s displeased when you are gone: 

I fear me, he will scarce be pleased withal. 

Jul. That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear: 

A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears 

And instances of infinite of love 70 

Warrant me welcome to my Proteus. 

Luc. All these are servants to deceitful men. 

Jul. Base men, that use them to so base effect! 
But truer stars did govern Proteus’ birth; 

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles, 

His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate. 

His tears pure messengers sent from his heart. 

His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth. 

Luc. Pray heaven he prove so, when you come to 
him! 

Jul. Now, as thou lovest me, do him not that 
wrong so 

To bear a hard opinion of his truth : 

Only deserve my love by loving him; 

And presently go with me to my chamber. 

To take a note of what I stand in need of, 

To furnish me upon my longing journey. 

All that is mine I leave at thy dispose, 

My goods, my lands, my reputation; 

Only, in lieu thereof, dispatch me hence. 

Come, answer not, but to it presently! 

I am impatient of my tarriance. [Exeunt. 90 



Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 39 


ACT III 

Scene I — Milan. The Duke’s palace 
Enter Duke, Thurio, and Proteus 

Duke. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; 
We have some secrets to confer about. £Exit Thu. 

Now, tell me, Proteus, what’s your will with me? 
Pro. My gracious lord, that which I would dis¬ 
cover 

The law of friendship bids me to conceal; 

But when I call to mind your gracious favours 
Done to me, undeserving as I am, 

My duty pricks me on to utter that 
Which else no worldly good should draw from me. 
Know, worthy prince. Sir Valentine, my friend, 
This night intends to steal away your daughter: 
Myself am one made privy to the plot. 

I know you have determined to bestow her 
On Thurio, whom your gentle daughter hates; 

And should she thus be stol’n away from you, 

It would be much vexation to your age. 

Thus, for my duty’s sake, I rather chose 
To cross my friend in his intended drift 
Than, by concealing it, heap on your head 
A pack of sorrows which would press you down, 
Being unprevented, to your timeless grave. 

Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest 
care; 

Which to requite, command me while I live. 

This love of theirs myself have often seen, 

Haply when they have judged me fast asleep, 


40 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


And oftentimes have purposed to forbid 
Sir Valentine her company and my court: 

But fearing lest my jealous aim might err 
And so unworthily disgrace the man, 

A rashness that I ever yet have shunn’d, 30 

I gave him gentle looks, thereby to find 
That which thyself hast now disclosed to me. 

And, that thou mayst perceive my fear of this, 
Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested, 

I nightly lodge her in an upper tower, 

The key whereof myself have ever kept; 

And thence she cannot be convey’d away. 

Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devised a mean 
How he her chamber-window will ascend 
And with a corded ladder fetch her down; 40 

For which the youthful lover now is gone 
And this way comes he with it presently; 

Where, if it please you, you may intercept him. 

But, good my lord, do it so cunningly 
That my discovery be not aimed at; 

For love of you, not hate unto my friend. 

Hath made me publisher of this pretence. 

Duke. Upon mine honour, he shall never know 
That I had any light from thee of this. 

Pro. Adieu, my lord ; Sir Valentine is coming. 50 

[Exit. 

Enter Valentine 

Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? 

Val. Please it your grace, there is a messenger 
That stays to bear my letters to my friends, 

And I am going to deliver them. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 41 


Duke. Be they of much import ? 

Val. The tenour of them doth but signify 
My health and happy being at your court. 

Duke. Nay then, no matter; stay with me 
awhile; 

I am to break with thee of some affairs 

That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret. 60 

’Tis not unknown to thee that I have sought 

To match my friend Sir Thurio to my daughter. 

Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the 
match 

Were rich and honourable; besides, the gentleman 
Is full of virtue, bounty, worth and qualities 
Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter: 

Cannot your grace win her to fancy him ? 

Duke. No, trust me ; she is peevish, sullen, fro- 
ward, 

Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty, 

Neither regarding that she is my child 70 

Nor fearing me as if I were her father; 

And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers. 

Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her; 

And, where I thought the remnant of mine age 
Should have* been cherish’d by her child-like duty, 

I now am full resolved to take a wife 
And turn her out to who will take her in : 

Then let her beauty be her wedding-dower; 

For me and my possessions she esteems not. 

Val. What would your grace have me to do in 
this ? 

Duke. There is a lady in Verona here 
Whom I affect; but she is nice and coy 


80 


42 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


And nought esteems my aged eloquence : 

Now therefore would I have thee to my tutor — 

For long agone I have forgot to court; 

Besides, the fashion of the time is changed — 

How and which way I may bestow myself 
To be regarded in her sun-bright eye. 

Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words : 
Dumb jewels often in their silent kind 90 

More than quick words do move a woman’s mind. 
Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her. 
Val. A woman sometimes scorns what best con¬ 
tents her. 

Send her another; never give her o’er; 

For scorn at first makes after-love the more. 

If she do frown, ’tis not in hate of you, 

But rather to beget more love in you: 

If she do chide, ’tis not to have you gone; 

For why, the fools are mad, if left alone. 

Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; 100 

For ‘get you gone,’ she doth not mean ‘away!’ 

Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; 
Though ne’er so black, say they have angels’ faces. 
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, 

If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. 

Duke. But she I mean is promised by her friends 
Unto a youthful gentleman of worth, 

And kept severely from resort of men, 

That no man hath access by day to her. 

Val. Why, then, I would resort to her by night. 110 
Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock’d and keys kept 
safe, 

That no man hath recourse to her by night. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 43 


Val. What lets but one may enter at her win¬ 
dow? 

Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground, 
And built so shelving that one cannot climb it 
Without apparent hazard of his life. 

Val. Why then, a ladder quaintly made of cords, 
To cast up, with a pair of anchoring hooks, 

Would serve to scale another Hero’s tower. 

So bold Leander would adventure it. 

Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood, 
Advise me where I may have such a ladder. 

Val. When would you use it? pray, sir, tell me 
that. 

Duke. This very night; for Love is like a child, 
That longs for every thing that he can come by. 

Val. By seven o’clock I’ll get you such a ladder. 
Duke. But, hark thee; I will go to her alone : 
How shall I best convey the ladder thither ? 

Val. It will be light, my lord, that you may bear 
it 

Under a cloak that is of any length. 

Duke. A cloak as long as thine will serve the 
turn ? 

Val. Ay, my good lord. 

Duke. Then let me see thy cloak : 

I’ll get me one of such another length. 

Val. Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my 
lord. 

Duke. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak? 
I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me. 

What letter is this same? What’s here? ‘To 
Silvia ’! 


44 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


And here an engine fit for my proceeding. 

I’ll be so bold to break the seal for once. [Reads. 
‘My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly. 
And slaves they are to me that send them flying: 
O, could their master come and go as lightly, 

Himself would lodge where senseless they are 
lying! 

My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; 

While I, their king, that hither them importune, 
Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless’d 
them, 

Because myself do want my servants’ fortune: 

I curse myself, for they are sent by me, 

That they should harbour where their lord would be.’ 
What’s here ? 

‘Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.’ 

’Tis so; and here’s the ladder for the purpose. 

Why, Phaethon, — for thou art Merops’ son, — 
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car 
And with thy daring folly burn the world ? 

Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee ? 
Go, base intruder ! overweening slave ! 

Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates. 

And think my patience, more than thy desert, 

Is privilege for thy departure hence ! 

Thank me for this more than for all the favours 
Which all too much I have bestow’d on thee. 

But if thou linger in my territories 

Longer than swiftest expedition 

Will give thee time to leave our royal court, 

By heaven! my wrath shall far exceed the love 
I ever bore my daughter or thyself. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 45 


Be gone ! I will not hear thy vain excuse; 

But, as thou lovest thy life, make speed from hence. 

[Exit. 

Val. And why not death rather than living tor¬ 
ment ? 170 

To die is to be banish’d from myself; 

And Silvia is myself : banish’d from her 
Is self from self : a deadly banishment! 

What light is light, if Silvia be not seen ? 

What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by? 

Unless it be to think that she is by 
And feed upon the shadow of perfection. 

Except I be by Silvia in the night, 

There is no music in the nightingale; 

Unless I look on Silvia in the day, iso 

There is no day for me to look upon; 

She is my essence, and I leave to be, 

If I be not by her fair influence 
Foster’d, illumined, cherish’d, kept alive. 

I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom: 

Tarry I here, I but attend on death : 

But, fly I hence, I fly away from life. 

Enter Proteus and Launce 

Pro. Run, boy, run, run, and seek him out. 

Launce. Soho, soho! 

Pro. What seest thou ? 190 

Launce. Him we go to find: there’s not a hair 
on’s head but ’tis a Valentine. 

Pro. Valentine ? 

Val. No. 

Pro. Who then ? his spirit ? 


46 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


Val. Neither. 

Pro. What then ? 

Val. Nothing. 

Launce. Can nothing speak? Master, shall I 
strike ? 

Pro. Who wouldst thou strike ? 200 

Launce. Nothing. 

Pro. Villain, forbear. 

Launce. Why, sir, I’ll strike nothing: I pray 
you, — 

Pro. Sirrah, I say, forbear. Friend Valentine, a 
word. 

Val. My ears are stopt and cannot hear good 
news, 

So much of bad already hath possess’d them. 

Pro. Then in dumb silence will I bury mine. 

For they are harsh, untuneable and bad. 

Val. Is Silvia dead ? 

Pro. No, Valentine. 210 

Val. No Valentine, indeed, for sacred Silvia. 

Hath she forsworn me ? 

Pro. No, Valentine. 

Val. No Valentine, if Silvia have forsworn me. 
What is your news ? 

Launce. Sir, there is a proclamation that you are 
vanished. 

Pro. That thou art banished — O, that’s the 
news! — 

From hence, from Silvia and from me thy friend. 

Val. O, I have fed upon this woe already, 

And now excess of it will make me surfeit. 

Doth Silvia know that I am banished ? 


220 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 47 


Pro. Ay, ay; and she hath offer’d to the 
doom — 

Which, unreversed, stands in effectual force — 

A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears: 

Those at her father’s churlish feet she tender’d; 

With them, upon her knees, her humble self; 

Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became 
them 

As if but now they waxed pale for woe: 

But neither bended knees, pure hands held up, 

Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears, 230 
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire; 

But Valentine, if he be ta’en, must die. 

Besides, her intercession chafed him so, 

When she for thy repeal was suppliant, 

That to close prison he commanded her. 

With many bitter threats of biding there. 

Val. No more; unless the next word that thou 
speak’st 

Have some malignant power upon my life : 

If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear, 

As ending anthem of my endless dolour. 240 

Pro. Cease to lament for that thou canst not 
help, 

And study help for that which thou lament’st. 

Time is the nurse and breeder of all good. 

Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love; 

Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life. 

Hope is a lover’s staff; walk hence with that 
And manage it against despairing thoughts. 

Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence; 
Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver’d 


48 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love. 250 

The time now serves not to expostulate: 

Come, I’ll convey thee through the city-gate; 

And, ere I part with thee, confer at large 
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs. 

As thou lovest Silvia, though not for thyself, 

Regard thy danger, and along with me! 

Val. I pray thee, Launce, an if thou seest my 
boy, 

Bid him make haste and meet me at the North- 
gate. 

Pro. Go, sirrah, find him out. Come, Valentine. 

Val. O my dear Silvia ! Hapless Valentine ! 260 

[.Exeunt Val. and Pro. 

Launce. I am but a fool, look you; and yet I 
have the wit to think my master is a kind of a knave : 
but that’s all one, if he be but one knave. He lives 
not now that knows me to be in love; yet I am in 
love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from 
me ; nor who ’tis I love ; and yet ’tis a woman ; but 
what woman, I will not tell myself; and yet ’tis a 
milkmaid; yet ’tis not a maid, for she hath had 
gossips; yet ’tis a maid, for she is her master’s maid, 
and serves for wages. She hath more qualities than 270 
a water-spaniel; which is much in a bare Christian. 

[Pulling out a paper] Here is the catelog of her 
condition. ‘Imprimis: She can fetch and carry.’ 
Why, a horse can do no more: nay, a horse cannot 
fetch, but only carry; therefore is she better than a 
jade. ‘Item: She can milk’; look you, a sweet 
virtue in a maid with clean hands. 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 49 

Enter Speed 

Speed. How now, Signior Launce! what news 
with your mastership ? 

Launce. With my master’s ship? why, it is at280 
sea. 

Speed. Well, your old vice still; mistake the 
word. What news, then, in your paper ? 

Launce. The blackest news that ever thou heard- 
est. 

Speed. Why, man, how black ? 

Launce. Why, as black as ink. 

Speed. Let me read them. 

Launce. Fie on thee, jolt-head! thou canst not 
read. 290 

Speed. Thou liest; I can. 

Launce. I will try thee. Tell me this : who begot 
thee ? 

Speed. Marry, the son of my grandfather. 

Launce. O illiterate loiterer! it was the son of 
thy grandmother: this proves that thou canst not 
read. 

Speed. Come, fool, come; try me in thy paper. 

Launce. There; and Saint Nicholas be thy 
speed! 300 

Speed. \_Reads~\ ‘Imprimis: She can milk.’ 

Launce. Ay, that she can. 

Speed. ‘Item : She brews good ale.’ 

Launce. And thereof comes the proverb : 

‘Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.’ 

Speed. ‘Item : She can sew.’ 

Launce. That’s as much as to say, Can she so? 

Speed. ‘Item : She can knit.’ 


50 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 

Launee. What need a man care for a stock with 
a wench, when she can knit him a stock ? 3 io 

Speed. ‘Item : She can wash and scour.’ 

Launee. A special virtue; for then she need not 
be washed and scoured. 

Speed. ‘Item: She can spin.’ 

Launee. Then may I set the world on wheels, 
when she can spin for her living. 

Speed. ‘Item: She hath many nameless virtues.’ 

Launee. That’s as much as to say, bastard 
virtues; that, indeed, know not their fathers and 
therefore have no names. 320 

Speed. ‘Here follow her vices.’ 

Launee. Close at the heels of her virtues. 

Speed. ‘ Item : She is not to be kissed fasting, in 
respect of her breath.’ 

Launee. Well, that fault may be mended with a 
breakfast. Read on. 

Speed. ‘Item : She hath a sweet mouth.’ 

Launee. That makes amends for her sour breath. 

Speed. ‘Item : She doth talk in her sleep.’ 

Launee. It’s no matter for that, so she sleep not 330 
in her talk. 

Speed. ‘Item : She is slow in words.’ 

Launee. O villain, that set this down among her 
vices ! To be slow in words is a woman’s only virtue : 

I pray thee, out with’t, and place it for her chief 
virtue. 

Speed. ‘Item : She is proud.’ 

Launee. Out with that too; it was Eve’s legacy, 
and cannot be ta’en from her. 

Speed. ‘Item : She hath no teeth.’ 


340 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 51 


Launce. I care not for that neither, because I 
love crusts. 

Speed. ‘Item : She is curst/ 

Launce. Well, the best is, she hath no teeth to 
bite. 

Speed. ‘Item: She will often praise her liquor/ 

Launce. If her liquor be good, she shall; if she 
will not, I will; for good things should be praised. 

Speed. ‘Item : She is too liberal.’ 

Launce. Of her tongue she cannot, for that’s writ 350 
down she is slow of; of her purse she shall not, for 
that I’ll keep shut; now, of another thing she may, 
and that cannot I help. Well, proceed. 

Speed. ‘ Item: She hath more hair than wit, 
and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than 
faults.’ 

Launce. Stop there: I’ll have her: she was 
mine, and not mine, twice or thrice in that last 
article. Rehearse that once more. 

Speed. ‘Item : She hath more hair than wit,’ —360 

Launce. More hair than wit ? It may be: I’ll 
prove it. The cover of the salt hides the salt, and 
therefore it is more than the salt; the hair that 
covers the wit is more than the wit, for the greater 
hides the less. What’s next ? 

Speed. ‘And more faults than hairs,’ — 

Launce. That’s monstrous: O, that that were 
out! 

Speed. ‘And more wealth than faults.’ 

Launce. Why, that word makes the faults gra- 370 
cious. Well, I’ll have her: and if it be a match, as 
nothing is impossible, — 


52 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


Speed. What then ? 

Launce. Why, then will I tell thee — that thy 
master stays for thee at the North-gate. 

Speed. For me ? 

Launce. For thee ! ay, who art thou ? he hath 
stayed for a better man than thee. 

Speed. And must I go to him ? 

Launce. Thou must run to him, for thou hast3so 
stayed so long that going will scarce serve the turn. 

Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? pox of 
your love-letters! [Exit. 

Launce. Now will he be swinged for reading my 
letter; an unmannerly slave, that will thrust him¬ 
self into secrets! I’ll after, to rejoice in the boy’s 
correction. [Exit. 

Scene II — The same. The Duke’s palace 
Enter Duke and Thurio 

Dulce. Sir Thurio, fear not but that she will love 
you. 

Now Valentine is banish’d from her sight. 

Thu. Since his exile she hath despised me most, 
Forsworn my company and rail’d at me, 

That I am desperate of obtaining her. 

Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure 
Trenched in ice, which with an hour’s heat 
Dissolves to water and doth lose his form. 

A little time will melt her frozen thoughts 

And worthless Valentine shall be forgot. 10 

Enter Proteus 

How now, Sir Proteus! Is your countryman 
According to our proclamation gone ? 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 53 
Pro. Gone, my good lord. 

Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously. 
Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief. 
Duke. So I believe ; but Thurio thinks not so. 
Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee — 

For thou hast shown some sign of good desert — 
Makes me the better to confer with thee. 

Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace 
Let me not live to look upon your grace. 

Duke. Thou know’st how willingly I would effect 
The match between Sir Thurio and my daughter. 
Pro. I do, my lord. 

Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant 
How she opposes her against my will. 

Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here. 
Duke. Ay, and perversely she persevers so. 
What might we do to make the girl forget 
The love of Valentine and love Sir Thurio ? 

Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine 
With falsehood, cowardice and poor descent, 

Three things that women highly hold in hate. 

Duke. Ay, but she’ll think that it is spoke in hate. 
Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it: 

Therefore it must with circumstance be spoken 
By one whom she esteemeth as his friend. 

Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him. 
Pro. And that, my lord, I shall be loath to do : 
’Tis an ill office for a gentleman, 

Especially against his very friend. 

Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage 
him. 

Your slander never can endamage him; 


54 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


Therefore the office is indifferent, 

Being entreated to it by your friend. 

Pro. You have prevail’d, my lord : if I can do it 
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise, 

She shall not long continue love to him. 

But say this weed her love from Valentine, 

It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio. 

Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from 
him, 

Lest it should ravel and be good to none. 

You must provide to bottom it on me; 

Which must be done by praising me as much 
As you in worth dispraise Sir Valentine. 

Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this 
kind, 

Because we know, on Valentine’s report, 

You are already Love’s firm votary 
And cannot soon revolt and change your mind. 
Upon this warrant shall you have access 
Where you with Silvia may confer at large; 

For she is lumpish, heavy, melancholy, 

And, for your friend’s sake, will be glad of you; 
Where you may temper her by your persuasion 
To hate young Valentine and love my friend. 

Pro. As much as I can do, I will effect: 

But you, Sir Thurio, are not sharp enough; 

You must lay lime to tangle her desires 
By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes 
Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows. 

Duke. Ay, 

Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy. 

Pro. Say that upon the altar of her beauty 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 55 

You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart: 
Write till your ink be dry, and with your tears 
Moist it again, and frame some feeling line 
That may discover such integrity : 

For Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews, 
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones, 
Make tigers tame and huge leviathans 
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands. 

After your dire-lamenting elegies, 

Visit by night your lady’s chamber-window 
With some sweet consort; to their instruments 
Tune a deploring dump : the night’s dead silence 
Will well become such sweet-complaining grievance. 
This, or else nothing, will inherit her. 

Duke. This discipline shows thou hast been in 
love. 

Thu. And thy advice this night I’ll put in prac¬ 
tice. 

Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver, 

Let us into the city presently 

To sort some gentlemen well skill’d in music. 

I have a sonnet that will serve the turn 
To give the onset to thy good advice. 

Duke. About it, gentlemen ! 

Pro. We’ll wait upon your grace till after supper, 
And afterward determine our proceedings. 

Duke. Even now about it! I will pardon you. 

[ Exeunt. 



56 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


ACT IV 

Scene I — The frontiers of Mantua. A forest 
Enter certain Outlaws 

First Out. Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger. 
Sec. Out. If there be ten, shrink not, but down 
with ’em. 

Enter Valentine and Speed 

Third Out. Stand, sir, and throw us that you 
have about ye : 

If not, we’ll make you sit and rifle you. 

Speed. Sir, we are undone; these are the villains 
That all the travellers do fear so much. 

Vat. My friends, — 

First Out. That’s not so, sir: we are your ene¬ 
mies. 

Sec. Out. Peace ! we’ll hear him. 

Third Out. Ay, by my beard, will we, for he’s a 
proper man. 

Val. Then know that I have little wealth to lose : 
A man I am cross’d with adversity; 

My riches are these poor habiliments, 

Of which if you should here disfurnish me, 

You take the sum and substance that I have. 

Sec. Out. Whither travel you ? 

Val. To Verona. 

First Out. Whence came you ? 

Val. From Milan. 

Third Out. Have you long sojourned there ? 

Val. Some sixteen months, and longer might 
have stay’d. 


10 


20 


Scene I] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 57 


If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. 

First Out. What, were you banish’d thence ? 

Vat. I was. 

Sec. Out. For what offence P 
Val. For that which now torments me to re¬ 
hearse : 

I kill’d a man, whose death I much repent; 

But yet I slew him manfully in fight, 

Without false vantage or base treachery. 

First Out. Why, ne’er repent it, if it were done so. 30 
But were you banish’d for so small a fault ? 

Val. I was, and held me glad of such a doom. 

Sec. Out. Have you the tongues ? 

Val. My youthful travel therein made me happy, 

Or else I often had been miserable. 

Third Out. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood’s 
fat friar, 

This fellow were a king for our wild faction! 

First Out. We’ll have him. Sirs, a word. 

Speed. Master, be one of them; it’s an hon¬ 
ourable kind of thievery. 40 

Val. Peace, villain ! 

Sec. Out. Tell us this: have you any thing to 
take to ? 

Val. Nothing but my fortune. 

Third Out. Know, then, that some of us are 
gentlemen, 

Such as the fury of ungovern’d youth 
Thrust from the company of awful men: 

Myself was from Verona banished 
For practising to steal away a lady. 

An heir, and near allied unto the duke. 


58 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Sec. Out. And I from Mantua, for a gentleman, 50 
Who, in my mood, I stabb’d unto the heart. 

First Out. And I for such like petty crimes as 
these. 

But to the purpose — for we cite our faults, 

That they may hold excused our lawless lives; 

And partly, seeing you are beautified 
With goodly shape and by your own report 
A linguist and a man of such perfection 
As we do in our quality much want — 

Sec. Out. Indeed, because you are a banish’d man, 
Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you : 60 

Are you content to be our general ? 

To make a virtue of necessity 

And live, as we do, in this wilderness ? 

Third Out. What say’st thou? wilt thou be of 
our consort ? 

Say ay, and be the captain of us all: 

We’ll do thee homage and be ruled by thee, 

Love thee as our commander and our king. 

First Out. But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou 
diest. 

Sec. Out. Thou shalt not live to brag what we 
have offer’d. 

Val. I take your offer and will live with you, 70 
Provided that you do no outrages 
On silly women or poor passengers. 

Third Out. No, we detest such vile base practices. 
Come, go with us, we’ll bring thee to our crews, 

And show thee all the treasure we have got; 

Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose. 

[ Exeunt. 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 59 


Scene II — Milan. Outside the Duke’s palace, under 
Silvia’s chamber 

Enter Proteus 

Pro. Already have I been false to Valentine 
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio. 

Under the colour of commending him, 

I have access my own love to prefer: 

But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy, 

To be corrupted with my worthless gifts. 

When I protest true loyalty to her, 

She twits me with my falsehood to my friend; 

When to her beauty I commend my vows, 

She bids me think how I have been forsworn 10 

In breaking faith with Julia whom I loved : 

And not withstanding all her sudden quips, 

The least whereof would quell a lover’s hope, 

Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love, 

The more it grows and fawneth on her still. 

But here comes Thurio : now must we to her window, 
And give some evening music to her ear. 

Enter Thurio and Musicians 

Thu. How now, Sir Proteus, are you crept before 
us ? 

Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio : for you know that love 
Will creep in service where it cannot go. 20 

Thu. Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here. 
Pro. Sir, but I do ; or else I would be hence. 

Thu. Who? Silvia? 

Pro. Ay, Silvia; for your sake. 

Thu. I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen, 
Let’s tune, and to it lustily awhile. 


60 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Enter, at a distance. Host, and Julia in boys clothes 
Host. Now, my young guest, methinks you’re 
allycholly : I pray you, why is it ? 

Jul. Marry, mine host, because I cannot be 
merry. 

Host. Come, we’ll have you merry: I’ll bring 30 
you where you shall hear music and see the gentle¬ 
man that you asked for. 

Jul. But shall I hear him speak? 

Host. Ay, that you shall. 

Jul. That will be music. [ Music plays . 

Host. Hark, hark! 

Jul. Is he among these ? 

Host. Ay : but, peace ! let’s hear ’em. 

Song 

Who is Silvia ? what is she, 

That all our swains commend her ? 40 

Holy, fair and wise is she; 

The heaven such grace did lend her. 

That she might admired be. 

Is she kind as she is fair ? 

For beauty lives with kindness. 

Love doth to her eyes repair, 

To help him of his blindness. 

And, being help’d, inhabits there. 

Then to Silvia let us sing, 

That Silvia is excelling; 50 

She excels each mortal thing 
Upon the dull earth dwelling: 

To her let us garlands bring. 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OP VERONA 61 


Host. How now! are you sadder than you were 
before? How do you, man? the music likes you 
not. 

Jul. You mistake; the musician likes me not. 

Host. Why, my pretty youth ? 

Jul. He plays false, father. 

Host. How ? out of tune on the strings ? 60 

Jul. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my 
very heart-strings. 

Host. You have a quick ear. 

Jul. Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have 
a slow heart. 

Host. I perceive you delight not in music. 

Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so. 

Host. Hark, what fine change is in the music ! 

Jul. Ay, that change is the spite. 

Host. You would have them always play but one 70 
thing! 

Jul. I would always have one play but one 
thing. 

But, host, doth this Sir Proteus that we talk on 
Often resort unto this gentlewoman ? 

Host. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me: 
he loved her out of all nick. 

Jul. Where is Launce ? 

Host. Gone to seek his dog; which tomorrow, 
by his master’s command, he must carry for a present 
to his lady. so 

Jul. Peace ! stand aside : the company parts. 

Pro. Sir Thurio, fear not you : I will so plead 
That you shall say my cunning drift excels. 

Thu. Where meet we ? 


62 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 

Pro. At Saint Gregory’s well. 

Thu. Farewell. 

[.Exeunt Thu. and Musicians. 

Enter Silvia above 

Pro. Madam, good even to your ladyship. 

Sil. I thank you for your music, gentlemen. 

Who is that that spake ? 

Pro. One, lady, if you knew his pure heart’s 
truth, 

You would quickly learn to know him by his voice. 

Sir Proteus, as I take it. 90 

Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant. 
What’s your will ? 

That I may compass yours. 
You have your wish; my will is even this: 
That presently you hie you home to bed. 

Thou subtle, perjured, false, disloyal man! 

Think’st thou I am so shallow, so conceitless. 

To be seduced by thy flattery. 

That hast deceived so many with thy vows ? 

Return, return, and make thy love amends. 

For me, by this pale queen of night I swear, 100 

I am so far from granting thy request 
That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit. 

And by and by intend to chide myself 
Even for this time I spend in talking to thee. 

Pro. I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady; 
But she is dead. 

Jul. \_Aside^\ ’Twere false, if I should speak it; 
For I am sure she is not buried. 

Sil. Say that she be; yet Valentine thy friend 


Sil. 

Pro. 

Sil. 

Pro. 

Sil. 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


Survives ; to whom, thyself art witness, 

I am betroth’d : and art thou not ashamed 
To wrong him with thy importunacy ? 

Pro. I likewise hear that Valentine is dead. 

Sil. And so suppose am I; for in his grave 
Assure thyself my love is buried. 

Pro. Sweet lady, let me rake it from the 
earth. 

Sil. Go to thy lady’s grave and call hers thence, 
Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine. 

Jul. \_Aside ] He heard not that. 

Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdurate, 
Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love, 

The picture that is hanging in your chamber; 

To that I’ll speak, to that I’ll sigh and weep : 

For since the substance of your perfect self 
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow; 

And to your shadow will I make true love. 

Jul. [ 'Aside ] If ’twere a substance, you would, 
sure, deceive it, 

And make it but a shadow, as I am. 

Sil. I am very loath to be your idol, sir; 

But since your falsehood shall become you well 
To worship shadows and adore false shapes, 

Send to me in the morning and I’ll send it: 

And so, good rest. 

Pro. As wretches have o’ernight 

That wait for execution in the morn. 

[Exeunt Pro. and Sil. severally. 
Jul. Host, will you go ? 

Host. By my halidom, I was fast asleep. 

Jul , Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus ? 


64 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Host . Marry, at my house. Trust me, I think 
’tis almost day. 

Jul. Not so ; but it hath been the longest night 
That e’er I watch’d and the most heaviest. 

\_Exeunt. 

Scene III — The same 
Enter Eglamour 

Egl. This is the hour that Madam Silvia 
Entreated me to call and know her mind: 

There’s some great matter she’ld employ me in. 
Madam, madam! 


Enter Silvia above 
Sil. Who calls ? 

Egl. Your servant and your friend ; 

One that attends your ladyship’s command. 

Sil. Sir Eglamour, a thousand times good mor¬ 
row. 

Egl. As many, worthy lady, to yourself : 
According to your ladyship’s impose, 

I am thus early come to know what service 
It is your pleasure to command me in. 

Sil. O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman — 

Think not I flatter, for I swear I do not — 

Valiant, wise, remorseful, well accomplish’d: 

Thou art not ignorant what dear good will 
I bear unto the banish’d Valentine, 

Nor how my father would enforce me marry 
Vain Thurio, whom my very soul abhors. 

Thyself hast loved; and I have heard thee say 
No grief did ever come so near thy heart 


Scene III] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 65 


As when thy lady and thy true love died, 

Upon whose grave thou vow’dst pure chastity. 

Sir Eglamour, I would to Valentine, 

To Mantua, where I hear he makes abode; 

And, for the ways are dangerous to pass, 

I do desire thy worthy company, 

Upon whose faith and honour I repose. 

Urge not my father’s anger, Eglamour, 

But think upon my grief, a lady’s grief, 

And on the justice of my flying hence, 

To keep me from a most unholy match, 

Which heaven and fortune still rewards with plagues. 
I do desire thee, even from a heart 
As full of sorrows as the sea of sands, 

To bear me company and go with me: 

If not, to hide what I have said to thee, 

That I may venture to depart alone. 

Egl. Madam, I pity much your grievances; 
Which since I know they virtuously are placed, 

I give consent to go along with you. 

Recking as little what betideth me 
As much I wish all good befortune you. 

When will you go ? 

Sil. This evening coming. 

Egl. Where shall I meet you ? 

Sil. At Friar Patrick’s cell, 

Where I intend holy confession. 

Egl. I will not fail your ladyship. Good morrow, 
gentle lady. 

Sil. Good morrow, kind Sir Eglamour. 

[Exeunt severally. 


66 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Scene IV — The same 
.Enter Launce, with his Dog 

Launce. When a man’s servant shall play the 
cur with him, look you, it goes hard : one that I 
brought up of a puppy; one that I saved from 
drowning, when three or four of his blind brothers 
and sisters went to it. I have taught him, even as 
one would say precisely, ‘thus I would teach a dog.’ 
I was sent to deliver him as a present to Mistress 
Silvia from my master; and I came no sooner into 
the dining-chamber but he steps me to her trencher 
and steals her capon’s leg: O, ’tis a foul thing when 
a cur cannot keep himself in all companies ! I would 
have, as one should say, one that takes upon him to 
be a dog indeed, to be, as it were, a dog at all things. 
If I had not had more wit than he, to take a fault 
upon me that he did, I think verily he had been 
hanged for’t; sure as I live, he had suffered for’t: 
you shall judge. He thrusts me himself into the com¬ 
pany of three or four gentleman-like dogs, under the 
duke’s table : he had not been there — bless the 
mark! — a pissing while, but all the chamber smelt 
him. ‘Out with the dog!’ says one: ‘What cur is 
that ? ’ says another : ‘ Whip him out ’ says the 
third : ‘ Hang him up ’ says the duke. I, having been 
acquainted with the smell before, knew it was Crab, 
and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs: 

‘ Friend, ’ quoth I, ‘ you mean to whip the dog ? ’ ‘ Ay, 
marry, do I,’ quoth he. ‘You do him the more 
wrong,’ quoth I; ‘ ’twas I did the thing you wot of.’ 
He makes me no more ado, but whips me out of the 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 67 


chamber. How many masters would do this for his 30 
servant ? Nay, I’ll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks 
for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been 
executed; I have stood on the pillory for geese he 
hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for’t. Thou 
thinkest not of this now. Nay, I remember the trick 
you served me when I took my leave of Madam 
Silvia: did not I bid thee still mark me and do as I 
do ? when didst thou see me heave up my leg and 
make water against a gentlewoman’s farthingale? 
didst thou ever see me do such a trick? 40 

Enter Proteus and Julia 

Pro. Sebastian is thy name? I like thee well 
And will employ thee in some service presently. 

Jul. In what you please : I’ll do what I can. 

Pro. I hope thou wilt. \_To Launce ] How now, 
you whoreson peasant! 

Where have you been these two days loitering? 

Launce. Marry, sir, I carried Mistress Silvia the 
dog you bade me. 

Pro. And what says she to my little jewel ? 

Launce. Marry, she says your dog was a cur, and 
tells you currish thanks is good enough for such a 50 
present. 

Pro. But she received my dog ? 

Launce. No, indeed, did she not: here have I 
brought him back again. 

Pro. What, didst thou offer her this from 
me ? 

Launce. Ay, sir: the other squirrel was stolen 
from me by the hangman boys in the market-place: 


68 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


and then I offered her mine own, who is a dog as big 
as ten of yours, and therefore the gift the greater. 

Pro. Go get thee hence, and find my dog again, 60 
Or ne’er return again into my sight. 

Away, I say ! stay’st thou to vex me here ? 

[Exit Launce. 

A slave, that still an end turns me to shame! 
Sebastian, I have entertained thee, 

Partly that I have need of such a youth 
That can with some discretion do my business, 

For ’tis no trusting to yond foolish lout, 

But chiefly for thy face and thy behaviour. 

Which, if my augury deceive me not, 

Witness good bringing up, fortune and truth : 70 

Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee. 

Go presently and take this ring with thee, 

Deliver it to Madam Silvia: 

She loved me well deliver’d it to me. 

Jul. It seems you loved not her, to leave her 
token. 

She is dead, belike ? 

Pro. Not so; I think she lives. 

Jul. Alas! 

Pro. Why dost thou cry ‘alas’ ? 

Jul. I cannot choose 

But pity her. 

Pro. Wherefore shouldst thou pity her? 

Jul. Because methinks that she loved you as 
well 

As you do love your lady Silvia : 

She dreams on him that has forgot her love; 

You dote on her that cares not for your love. 


80 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 69 


’Tis pity love should be so contrary; 

And thinking on it makes me cry ‘ alas ! ’ 

Pro. Well, give her that ring and therewithal 
This letter. That’s her chamber. Tell my lady 
I claim the promise for her heavenly picture. 

Your message done, hie home unto my chamber, 
Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary. 

Jul. How many women would do such a mes¬ 
sage ? 

Alas, poor Proteus ! thou hast entertain’d 
A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs. 

Alas, poor fool! why do I pity him 
That with his very heart despiseth me ? 

Because he loves her, he despiseth me; 

Because I love him, I must pity him. 

This ring I gave him when he parted from me 
To bind him to remember my good will; 

And now am I, unhappy messenger, 

To plead for that which I would not obtain, 

To carry that which I would have refused, 

To praise his faith which I would have dispraised. 
I am my master’s true-confirmed love; 

But cannot be true servant to my master, 

Unless I prove false traitor to myself. 

Yet will I woo for him, but yet so coldly 

As, heaven it knows, I would not have him speed. 

Enter Silvia, attended 

Gentlewoman, good day! I pray you, be my mean 
To bring me where to speak with Madam Silvia. 

Sil. What would you with her, if that I be 
she? 


70 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Jul. If you be she, I do entreat your patience 
To hear me speak the message I am sent on. 

Sil. From whom ? 

Jul. From my master, Sir Proteus, madam. 

Sil. O, he sends you for a picture. 

Jul. Ay, madam. 

Sil. Ursula, bring my picture there. 

Go give your master this: tell him from me, 

One Julia, that his changing thoughts forget, 120 

Would better fit his chamber than this shadow. 

Jul. Madam, please you peruse this letter. — 
Pardon me, madam ; I have unadvised 
Deliver’d you a paper that I should not: 

This is the letter to your ladyship. 

Sil. I pray thee, let me look on that again. 

Jul. It may not be; good madam, pardon me. 
Sil. There, hold! 

I will not look upon your master’s lines: 

I know they are stuff’d with protestations 130 

And full of new-found oaths ; which he will break 
As easily as I do tear his paper. 

Jul. Madam, he sends your ladyship this ring. 

Sil. The more shame for him that he sends it me ; 
For I have heard him say a thousand times 
His Julia gave it him at his departure. 

Though his false finger have profaned the ring, 

Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong. 

Jul. She thanks you. 

Sil. What say’st thou ? 140 

Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her. 
Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much. 

Sil. Dost thou know her ? 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 71 

Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself: 

To think upon her woes I do protest 
That I have wept a hundred several times. 

Sil. Belike she thinks that Proteus hath forsook 
her. 

Jul I think she doth; and that’s her cause of 
sorrow. 

Sil. Is she not passing fair ? 

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is : 
When she did think my master loved her well, 

She, in my judgement, was as fair as you; 

But since she did neglect her looking-glass 
And threw her sun-expelling mask away, 

The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks 
And pinch’d the lily-tincture of her face, 

That now she is become as black as I. 

Sil. How tall was she ? 

Jul. About my stature ; for at Pentecost, 

When all our pageants of delight were play’d, 

Our youth got me to play the woman’s part. 

And I was trimm’d in Madam Julia’s gown, 

Which served me as fit, by all men’s judgements, 
As if the garment had been made for me: 

Therefore I know she is about my height. 

And at that time I made her weep agood, 

For I did play a lamentable part: 

Madam, ’twas Ariadne passioning 
For Theseus’ perjury and unjust flight; 

Which I so lively acted with my tears 
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal, 

Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead 
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow! 


n TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


Sil. She is beholding to thee, gentle youth. 

Alas, poor lady, desolate and left! 

I weep myself to think upon thy words. 

Here, youth, there is my purse; I give thee this 
For thy sweet mistress’ sake, because thou lovest her. 
Farewell. [Exit Silvia, with attendants. 

Jul. And she shall thank you for’t, if e’er you 
know her. iso 

A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful! 

I hope my master’s suit will be but cold, 

Since she respects my mistress’ love so much. 

Alas, how love can trifle with itself! 

Here is her picture : let me see; I think. 

If I had such a tire, this face of mine 
Were full as lovely as is this of hers : 

And yet the painter flatter’d her a little. 

Unless I flatter with myself too much. 

Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow: 190 

If that be all the difference in his love. 

I’ll get me such a colour’d periwig. 

Her eyes are grey as glass, and so are mine: 

Ay, but her forehead’s low, and mine’s as high. 

What should it be that he respects in her 
But I can make respective in myself, 

If this fond Love were not a blinded god ? 

Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up, 

For ’tis thy rival. O thou senseless form, 

Thou shalt be worshipp’d, kiss’d, loved and adored ! 200 
And, were there sense in his idolatry, 

My substance should be statue in thy stead. 

I’ll use thee kindly for thy mistress’ sake, 

That used me so; or else, by Jove I vow, 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 73 

I should have scratch’d out your unseeing eyes, 

To make my master out of love with thee! \_Exit. 


ACT V 

Scene I — Milan. An abbey 
Enter Eglamour 

Egl. The sun begins to gild the western sky; 
And now it is about the very hour 
That Silvia, at Friar Patrick’s cell, should meet me. 
She will not fail, for lovers break not hours, 

Unless it be to come before their time; 

So much they spur their expedition. 

See where she comes. 

Enter Silvia 

Lady, a happy evening ! 

Sil. Amen, amen ! Go on, good Eglamour, 

Out at the postern by the abbey-wall: 

I fear I am attended by some spies. 

Egl. Fear not: the forest is not three leagues off ; 
If we recover that, we are sure enough. \_Exeunt. 

Scene II — The same. The Duke’s palace 
Enter Thurio, Proteus, and Julia 

Thu. Sir Proteus, what says Silvia to my suit ? 
Pro. O, sir, I find her milder than she was; 

And yet she takes exceptions at your person. 

Thu. What, that my leg is too long ? 

Pro. No; that it is too little. 



74 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


Thu. I’ll wear a boot, to make it somewhat 
rounder. 

Jul. [Aside] But love will not be spurr’d to 
what it loathes. 

Thu. What says she to my face ? 

Pro. She says it is a fair one. 

Thu. Nay then, the wanton lies; my face is 
black. 

Pro. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is, 
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes. 

Jul. [Aside] ’Tis true; such pearls as put out 
ladies’ eyes; 

For I had rather wink than look on them. 

Thu. How likes she my discourse ? 

Pro. Ill, when you talk of war. 

Thu. But well, when I discourse of love and 
peace ? 

Jul. [Aside] But better, indeed, when you hold 
your peace. 

Thu. What says she to my valour ? 

Pro. O, sir, she makes no doubt of that. 

Jul. [Aside] She needs not, when she knows it 
cowardice. 

Thu. What says she to my birth P 
Pro. That you are well derived. 

Jul. [Aside] True; from a gentleman to a fool. 
Thu. Considers she my possessions ? 

Pro. O, ay; and pities them. 

Thu. Wherefore ? 

Jul. [Aside] That such an ass should owe them. 
Pro. That they are out by lease. 

Jul. Here comes the duke. 


Scene II] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 75 

Enter Duke 


Duke. How now, Sir Proteus ! how now, Thurio ! 
Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late ? 

Thu. Not I. 

Pro. Nor I. 

Duke. Saw you my daughter ? 

Pro. Neither. 

Duke. Why then, 

She’s fled unto that peasant Valentine; 

And Eglamour is in her company. 

’Tis true; for Friar Laurence met them both. 

As he in penance wander’d through the forest; 

Him he knew well, and guess’d that it was she, 

But, being mask’d, he was not sure of it; 

Besides, she did intend confession 
At Patrick’s cell this even; and there she was not; 
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence. 
Therefore, I pray you, stand not to discourse, 

But mount you presently and meet with me 
Upon the rising of the mountain-foot 
That leads toward Mantua, whither they are fled : 
Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me. [Exit. 

Thu. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl, 

That flies her fortune when it follows her. 

I’ll after, more to be revenged on Eglamour 
Than for the love of reckless Silvia. [Exit. 

Pro. And I will follow, more for Silvia’s love 
Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her. [Exit. 

Jul. And I will follow, more to cross that love 
Than hate for Silvia that is gone for love. [Exit. 


76 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


Scene III — The frontiers of Mantua. The forest 
Enter Outlaws with Silvia 

First Out. Come, come, 

Be patient; we must bring you to our captain. 

Sil. A thousand more mischances than this one 
Have learn’d me how to brook this patiently. 

Sec. Out. Come, bring her away. 

First Out. Where is the gentleman that was with 
her ? 

Third Out. Being nimble-footed, he hath outrun 
us, 

But Moyses and Valerius follow him. 

Go thou with her to the west end of the wood; 
There is our captain: we’ll follow him that’s fled; 
The thicket is beset; he cannot ’scape. 

First Out. Come, I must bring you to our cap¬ 
tain’s cave: 

Fear not; he bears an honourable mind, 

And will not use a woman lawlessly. 

Sil. O Valentine, this I endure for thee! 

[Exeunt. 

Scene IV — Another part of the forest 
Enter Valentine 

Val. How use doth breed a habit in a man ! 

This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, 

I better brook than flourishing peopled towns : 

Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, 

And to the nightingale’s complaining notes 
Tune my distresses and record my woes. 

O thou that dost inhabit in my breast, 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 77 

Leave not the mansion so long tenantless, 

Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall 

And leave no memory of what it was! 10 

Repair me with thy presence, Silvia; 

Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain! 

What halloing and what stir is this to-day ? 

These are my mates, that make their wills their law, 
Have some unhappy passenger in chase. 

They love me well; yet I have much to do 
To keep them from uncivil outrages. 

Withdraw thee, Valentine: who’s this comes here? 

Enter Proteus, Silvia, and Julia 

Pro. Madam, this service I have done for you, 
Though you respect not aught your servant doth, 20 
To hazard life and rescue you from him 
That would have forced your honour and your love; 
Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look; 

A smaller boon than this I cannot beg 

And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give. 

Val. [Aside] How like a dream is this I see and 
hear! 

Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile. 

Sil. O miserable, unhappy that I am! 

Pro. Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came; 

But by my coming I have made you happy. 30 

Sil. By thy approach thou makest me most un¬ 
happy. 

Jut. [Aside] And me, when he approacheth to 
your presence. 

Sil. Had I been seized by a hungry lion, 

I would have been a breakfast to the beast, 


78 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


Rather than have false Proteus rescue me. 

O, Heaven be judge how I love Valentine, 

Whose life’s as tender to me as my soul! 

And full as much, for more there cannot be, 

I do detest false perjured Proteus. 

Therefore be gone; solicit me no more. 

Pro. What dangerous action, stood it next to 
death, 

Would I not undergo for one calm look ! 

O, ’tis the curse in love, and still approved, 

When women cannot love where they’re beloved! 
Sil. When Proteus cannot love where he’s be¬ 
loved. 

Read over Julia’s heart, thy first best love, 

For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith 
Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths 
Descended into perjury, to love me. 

Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou’dst two; 
And that’s far worse than none ; better have none 
Than plural faith which is too much by one : 

Thou counterfeit to thy true friend! 

Pro. In love 

Who respects friend ? 

Sil. All men but Proteus. 

Pro. Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words 
Can no way change you to a milder form. 

I’ll woo you like a soldier, at arms’ end, 

And love you ’gainst the nature of love, — force ye. 
Sil. O heaven! 

Pro. I’ll force thee yield to my desire. 

Val. Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch. 
Thou friend of an ill fashion! 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 79 


Pro . Valentine! 

Val. Thou common friend, that’s without faith 
or love, 

For such is a friend now; treacherous man ! 

Thou hast beguiled my hopes ; nought but mine eye 
Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say 
I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me. 
Who should be trusted, when one’s own right hand 
Is perjured to the bosom ? Proteus, 

I am sorry I must never trust thee more, 

But count the world a stranger for thy sake. 

The private wound is deepest: O time most accurst, 
’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst! 

Pro. My shame and guilt confounds me. 
Forgive me, Valentine : if hearty sorrow 
Be a sufficient ransom for offence, 

I tender’t here; I do as truly suffer 
As e’er I did commit. 

Val. Then I am paid; 

And once again I do receive thee honest. 

Who by repentance is not satisfied 

Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased. 

By penitence the Eternal’s wrath’s appeased : 

And, that my love may appear plain and free, 

All that was mine in Silvia I give thee. 

Jul. O me unhappy ! [£ woons. 

Pro. Look to the boy. 

Val. Why, boy ! why, wag ! how now ! what’s 
the matter ? Look up; speak. 

Jul. O good sir, my master charged me to deliver 
a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, 
was never done. 


80 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


Pro. Where is that ring, boy ? 

Jul. Here ’tis; this is it. 

Pro. How ! let me see : 

Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia. 

Jul. O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook: 

This is the ring you sent to Silvia. 

Pro. But how earnest thou by this ring ? At my 
depart 

I gave this unto Julia. 

Jul. And Julia herself did give it me; 

And Julia herself hath brought it hither. 

Pro. How! Julia! 100 

Jul. Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths, 
And entertain’d ’em deeply in her heart. 

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root! 

O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush! 

Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me 
Such an immodest raiment, if shame live 
In a disguise of love : 

It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, 

Women to change their shapes than men their minds. 
Pro. Than men their minds! ’tis true. O 
heaven ! were man no 

But constant, he were perfect. That one error 
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all 
the sins: 

Inconstancy falls off ere it begins. 

What is in Silvia’s face, but I may spy 
More fresh in Julia’s with a constant eye ? 

Val. Come, come, a hand from either : 

Let me be blest to make this happy close; 

’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes. 


Scene IV] TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 81 

Pro. Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for 
ever. 

Jul. And I mine. 

Enter Outlaws, with Duke and Thurio 

Outlaws. A prize, a prize, a prize ! 

Val. Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the 
duke. 

Your grace is welcome to a man disgraced, 

Banished Valentine. 

Duke. Sir Valentine! 

Thu. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia’s mine. 

Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy 
death; 

Come not within the measure of my wrath; 

Do not name Silvia thine; if once again, 

Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands : 

Take but possession of her with a touch: 

I dare thee but to breathe upon my love. 

Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I: 

I hold him but a fool that will endanger 
His body for a girl that loves him not: 

I claim her not, and therefore she is thine. 

Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou, 
To make such means for her as thou hast done 
And leave her on such slight conditions. 

Now, by the honour of my ancestry, 

I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, 

And think thee worthy of an empress’ love: 

Know then, I here forget all former griefs, 

Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again, 

Plead a new state in thy unrival’d merit, 


82 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


To which I thus subscribe : Sir Valentine, 

Thou art a gentleman and well derived; 

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her. 

Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me 
happy. 

I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake, 

To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. 150 

Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate’er it be. 

Val. These banish’d men that I have kept withal 
Are men endued with worthy qualities : 

Forgive them what they have committed here 
And let them be recall’d from their exile: 

They are reformed, civil, full of good 
And fit for great employment, worthy lord. 

Duke. Thou hast prevail’d; I pardon them and 
thee: 

Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts. 

Come, let us go : we will include all jars 160 

With triumphs, mirth and rare solemnity. 

Val. And, as we walk along, I dare be bold 
With our discourse to make your grace to smile. 

What think you of this page, my lord ? 

Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him; he 
blushes. 

Val. I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy. 
Duke. What mean you by that saying ? 

Val. Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along, 

That you will wonder what hath fortuned. 

Come, Proteus; ’tis your penance but to hear 170 
The story of your loves discovered : 

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; 

One feast, one house, one mutual happiness. 

f Exeunt. 


NOTES 


DRAMATIS PERSONS 

In the list of names at the end of the play in the First Folio 
Proteus is spelled Protheus; Antonio, Anthonio; Panthino, 
Panthion. Protheus is used consistently as the spelling in the 
folio text, but the others vary. Panthino occurs in the text, 
i. 3. 1, 76. 

Proteus is pronounced either as a dissyllable or a trisyllable, 
in the text. The name is obviously a label indicating change¬ 
ability or fickleness. Similarly, Valentine indicates true love, 
or faithfulness. 


ACT I —SCENE 1 

This first scene between the two young gentlemen of 
Verona tells us no more than Proteus tells us in one line. 
When Valentine goes out Proteus says, “ He after honour 
hunts, I after love.” Valentine is seeking honour at the court 
of the Duke of Milan. Proteus is staying in Verona because 
he is in love with Julia. He has sent a letter to her, using 
Valentine’s servant as a messenger, instead of his own. All 
that we need to learn from the tiresome punning of Proteus 
and Speed is the information that Speed has carried the letter 
to Julia’s house. 

19. love-book. A story of love. Valentine thinks it more 
suitable for Proteus than a prayer-book. 

22. Leander cross'd the Hellespont. A favorite allusion 
with Shakespeare. The story is in Ovid, but in this instance 
he may be thinking of Marlowe’s poem, Hero and Leander. 
It was entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1593, and Shake¬ 
speare may have seen it in manuscript. It was not published 
until 1598. 

25. you. Abbott (Shakespearian Grammar, Par. 231) notes 
that thou, as a pronoun of affection towards friends, is used 
in the first twenty lines of serious dialogue between the two 
young gentlemen. “But as soon as they begin to jest, ‘thou 

83 


84 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act I 


art’ is found too seriously ponderous, and we have ‘you are 
over boots in love,’ while the lighter thee is not discarded in 
‘it boots thee not.’ So in the word-fencing of lines 36-40, 
you and your are preferred, but an affectionate farewell brings 
them back again to thou” The you of line 62 can perhaps 
be explained as better suited to Proteus and his friends. 

27. give me not the boots. Variously interpreted as either 
a proverbial expression for “don’t make a fool of me’’ or a 
reference to the instrument of torture known as the “Boots.” 

71. embark for Milan. There is no doubt, judging by 
line 151, that Shakespeare is thinking of the journey from 
Verona to Milan, both inland cities, as a journey by sea. 
What cared he for geography? Young Englishmen, when 
they departed to “see the world abroad,” went by boat, and 
that is probably what Shakespeare expected his London 
audiences to think of. 


SCENE 2 

This scene takes us to Julia’s garden. The only informa¬ 
tion we receive from it is the fact that Proteus’s love is re¬ 
turned, but the method whereby Shakespeare gives us that 
information is thoroughly delightful. As Julia runs over the 
list of her admirers, Lucetta, her waiting-woman, gives her 
opinion of them. This part of the scene points ahead to a 
similar scene between Portia and Nerissa in The Merchant of 
Venice, where Portia, rather than her waiting-woman, char¬ 
acterizes her lovers. Shakespeare improves this situation 
when he uses it a second time. Julia, having pretended to 
Lucetta that she is moved not at all by Proteus, can only 
pretend, before Lucetta, that she is not interested in Pro¬ 
teus’s letter, and tears it up. But alone with the pieces (and 
the audience) she thoroughly reveals her true state of mind. 
Has she fooled Lucetta ? 

9. Sir Eglamour. This is not the Sir Eglamour who appears 
in Milan later in the play. 

25-32. Such dialogue, where a single line of verse is given 
to each character, is called stichomythia. This classical de¬ 
vice Shakespeare occasionally uses in his earlier plays. 

83. ‘Light o’ love.’ Margaret, in Much Ado about Nothing, 
iii. 4. 40, mentions this same tune. 

85. burden. A play upon two meanings of the word, one 
being its musical sense 


NOTES 


85 


Scene I] 


97. bid the base. An allusion to the game of prisoner’s 
base; the player who “bids the base” is challenging the other 
side to touch him, if they can, while he is “off base.” Lucejta 
merely means that she is challenging Julia to show her love 
for Proteus. 

102. makes it strange. Pretends indifference. 

137. month’s mind. Originally a mass celebrated a month 
after the death of a person. Used metaphorically as a strong 
synonym for mind or inclination. 


SCENE 3 

In this scene the plot is advanced a step farther. Julia has 
replied favorably to Proteus’s letter, but apparently Proteus 
is afraid of parental opposition. “O, that our fathers would 
applaud our loves,” is his exclamation as he reads Julia’s 
letter. On account of his fear of revealing the love affair, he 
pretends that the letter is from Valentine, and so makes it 
easy for his father to order him to Milan to complete his 
education. 

Thus have I shunn’d the fire for fear of burning, 

And drench’d me in the sea, where I am drown’d. 

27. the emperor. Merely a reference to the Duke of Milan. 

71. peremptory. Accented on the first syllable. 

77. expedition. The -tion should be pronounced as two 
syllables to fill up the line. 

84. resembleth. Pronounced as four syllables. 

ACT II —SCENE 1 

The numerous scenes of the second act take us back and 
forth between Milan and Verona, advancing the plot in two 
ways: (1) by introducing the second love element; (2) by 
getting the characters all together at Milan. 

This first scene very delightfully shows the hitherto heart- 
whole Valentine in love at last, much to the disgust of his 
servant, Speed. It also shows Silvia returning that love, 
though her device of having Valentine write “some lines to 
one she loves” is not so plain to Valentine as it is to Speed! 

18-26. Note the earmarks of being in love, according to 
Speed, and compare them with those suggested for Benedick 
in Much Ado About Nothing , iii. 2. 36-56, and for Orlando in 
As You Like It, iii. 2. 392-401. 


86 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act II 


26. beggar at Hallowmas. Beggars in certain parts of 
England received “soul-cakes” or other alms on All Saints 
Day. 

37. none else would. Would perceive them. 

76. going ungartered. A sign of being in love, indicating 
neglect of personal appearance. Cf. As You Like It, iii. 2. 398. 

172. speak in print. Speak with precision. 

SCENE 2 

The plot advances here, since Proteus is leaving Verona. 
The fact that he is leaving “on the tide” would be familiar 
to inhabitants of London, if not to inhabitants of Verona. 
Julia’s silent farewell is most effective. The exchange of 
rings, a common device in Shakespeare’s romantic comedies, 
points ahead to the denouement. 

4. turn. Change ( i.e ., in love). 

7. holy kiss. The kiss of betrothal. 

8. true constancy. The irony of this is soon to be apparent. 

SCENE 3 

This burlesque of farewell tears gives Launce and his dog 
Crab an admirable opportunity to amuse the groundlings. 
Coming, as it does, on the heels of Julia s tide of tears, it 
illustrates Shakespeare’s method in the romantic comedies of 
mingling romance and buffoonery for the edification of his 
audiences. 

3-4. proportion . . . prodigious son. Launce’s errors for 
the “portion” of the “prodigal son.” Shakespeare’s illiterate, 
low-comedy characters afforded the Elizabethan audiences 
much amusement by their malapropisms. Though Sheridan’s 
Mrs. Malaprop did not give her name to this kind of error 
until the eighteenth century, the error itself was well known 
to Shakespearean audiences. Cf. the mistakes of the artisans 
in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and of Dogberry in Much 
Ado. 

29. wood woman. A mad or angry woman, with a possible 
punning reference here to a wooden shoe. Cf. A Midsummer 
Night's Dream, ii. 1. 192: 

Here am I, wood within this wood. 

Because I cannot meet with Hermia. 


Scene V] NOTES 87 

“Wood” is Theobald’s emendation; the folio reading is “a 
would-woman.” 

61. tail. With stage business of kicking him. 

SCENE 4 

In this scene, which takes us back to Milan, the plot is 
advanced in several ways. After a delightful opening which 
shows Silvia listening with amused pleasure to a “volley of 
words” between two rivals for her love, Valentine and Thurio, 
the arrival of Proteus is heralded by a letter received by the 
Duke. This gives Valentine opportunity to praise his friend, 
and to remind Silvia of Proteus’s love for Julia. Proteus 
arrives, and Valentine, bubbling over with news of his love 
for Silvia, trustingly reveals to Proteus his plan for an elope¬ 
ment. But Proteus has fallen in love with Silvia at sight, and 
his soliloquy, which ends the scene, takes the audience into 
his confidence. They will now be on the watch for treachery, 
and thus suspense will be heightened. 

72. Comes all the praises. The singular verb with plural 
subject is a common construction in Shakespearean grammar. 

196. In the Folio this line reads 

It is mine, or Valentine's praise? 

The text had obviously been tampered with, possibly to 
shorten the speech. Various emendations have been sug¬ 
gested to make sense. 

201. waxen image \gainst a fire. This is undoubtedly an 
allusion to a practice in witchcraft, whereby a wax image of 
a person was melted in the belief that his body would waste 
away as the image dwindled. Holinshed’s Historie of Scot¬ 
land describes witches in the act of melting such an image of 
King Duffe. 

209. picture. Her external presentment or appearance. 

210. dazzled. Pronounced as three syllables. 

212. reason hut. No question but. 

SCENE 5 

Here Launce is welcomed to Milan by Speed and given the 
great news that Valentine is in love. It is a tiresome interlude, 
however. 

12. closed. Embraced. 

42. how sayest thou. What do you say to this? 


88 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act III 


SCENE 6 

Again Proteus takes the audience into his confidence. This 
speech corresponds to the soliloquy of the villain in tragedy, 
and points ahead to the treachery of Proteus in the next act. 
Suspense is again increased. 

13. learn. For teach, as in v. 3. 4. 

26. but a swarthy Ethiope. By comparison with Silvia, 
Julia is shown less fair. 


SCENE 7 

Back in Verona for the last time we see Julia preparing to 
undertake a journey to her “loving Proteus,” a journey which 
will get all of the characters to Milan at last. Like later 
Shakespearean romantic-comedy heroines Julia takes the high 
road of adventure disguised as a page. Shakespeare’s frequent 
use of this device fitted in well with the Elizabethan stage 
custom of having the women’s parts played by boys. The 
disguise was therefore perfect! 

86-87. These lines imply that Julia’s father is dead, al¬ 
though he was alive in i. 2. 131. Some passage of time is 
implied. 

ACT III —SCENE 1 

The first two acts were largely a getting ready for things 
to happen ; the plot thickened slowly. The characters shifted 
from Verona to Milan, and our two young gentlemen fell in 
love with Silvia. Little else of genuine importance took place. 
In the third act the story moves more rapidly, — in fact 
sometimes too rapidly. 

The first scene has genuine dramatic power. The treachery 
of Proteus, promised in his soliloquies, leads to the unmasking 
of Valentine’s scheme of eloping with Silvia. Here the Duke 
very cleverly plays upon the information given him by Pro¬ 
teus, and upon Valentine’s pride in his newly-acquired knowl¬ 
edge of a lover’s arts. Valentine’s banishment immediately 
follows. The conversation between Launce and Speed which 
concludes the scene is a low-comedy interlude for the ground¬ 
lings. 

81. Verona. The Folio reading, whether intentional on 
Shakespeare’s part or not. 


NOTES 


89 


Scene I] 


140-149. The lines of Valentine’s poem form a Shake¬ 
spearean sonnet, with one quatrain lacking. 

145. importune. Accented on the second syllable. 

153. Phaethon. The son of Apollo and Clymene; Merops 
was Clymene’s husband. Phaethon rashly insisted upon 
guiding the chariot of Apollo across the sky and was dashed 
to earth. Shakespeare had probably read the story in Ovid. 
The Duke’s use of the allusion shows that he regarded Valen¬ 
tine’s aspiration for the hand of Silvia as rash as Phaethon’s 
for the chariot of the sun. 

170ff. Valentine takes his banishment in much the same 
spirit shown by Romeo when he was banished from Verona. 

192. Valentine. A lover’s token. In lines 211 and 214 the 
word is used in the sense of true love or lover. 

216. vanished. Launce’s malapropism for banished. It is 
evident that Shakespeare has not left time for the proclama¬ 
tion to be issued, or for the scene between Silvia and her 
father, described by Proteus, to take place. 

299. Saint Nicholas. The patron saint of scholars. 

315. set the world on wheels. Have a life of ease. 

360. more hair than wit. A proverb. 


SCENE 2 

Once more Proteus proves treacherous, and promises the 
Duke that he will slander Valentine before Silvia in order to 
forward Thurio’s suit. The Duke trusts him because Pro¬ 
teus is supposed to be in love with Julia. The advice that 
Proteus gives to Thurio paves the way for a beautiful lyric 
in the next act. 

28. persevers. The second syllable takes the accent. 

45. your friend. Himself. 

78. Orpheus' lute. Orpheus was the son of Apollo. He 
could charm both inanimate and animate objects by means 
of his lyre. 

ACT IV —SCENE 1 

The banished Valentine makes “a virtue of necessity,” 
and allows himself to be chosen the captain of a band of 
outlaws living in a forest. When they ask the reason for his 
banishment he pretends that he has killed a man, though he 
cannot refrain from adding that it was in fair fight. They 


90 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


recognize in him the qualities that a leader should possess, 
and he agrees to live with them; in fact they leave him no 
alternative. But he insists that his men, like Robin Hood’s, 
must spare women and those who have little money. Shake¬ 
speare is not going to let his ideal young gentleman of Verona 
lose the respect of the audience. 

The frontiers of Mantua. Theobald’s localization, founded 
on Silvia’s words, iv. 3. 23, and the Duke’s, v. 2. 47. But 
Eglamour, near Friar Patrick’s cell (v. 1. 11), says that the 
forest is not three leagues off. Shakespeare is vague in his 
geography. 

21. Sixteen months. There seems no reason why Valen- 
time should not be telling the truth, and yet there seems to 
be no need for such a long passage of time. Shakespeare is 
using time in this play as vaguely as he uses geography. 

33. tongues. Languages. 

36. Robin Hood’s fat friar. Friar Tuck. An English touch, 
for these outlaws are Italian. 

49. heir and near. Theobald’s emendation. The Folio 
has “heire and Niece.” 

60. above the rest. Over and above the other qualifica¬ 
tions. 


SCENE 2 

Proteus, like a true Shakespearean villain, takes the audi¬ 
ence into his confidence in his opening soliloquy. Some 
passage of time is implied since Thurio, in iii. 2. 89, announced 
that he would put Proteus’s advice into practice “this night.” 
We may suppose that he has kept up the practice of serenad¬ 
ing Silvia. Proteus refers in his soliloquy to more than one 
scene when he has vainly tried to win Silvia for himself. It 
is a pity that Shakespeare has not given us one of those scenes. 
Proteus’s wooing is now well known, for the Host tells Julia 
that after the music she will hear Proteus speak. Julia, in 
boy’s clothes, is placed in a pathetic situation in this scene, 
but at least she has the consolation of hearing Silvia tell Pro¬ 
teus to remain true to his first love. 

68-69. The Host probably means variety. Julia is think¬ 
ing of the change in Proteus. 

78. his dog. It wasn’t Crab that Proteus asked Launce 
to carry to Silvia. 

84. St. Gregory’s well. An actual well near Milan. 


NOTES 


91 


Scene IV] 


108 , 115 . buried. Pronounced as three syllables. 

141 . most heaviest. The double superlative is a common 
construction in Shakespeare. “The inflections -er and -est, 
which represent the comparative and superlative degrees of 
adjectives, though retained, yet lost some of their force, and 
sometimes received the addition of more, most, for the purpose 
of greater emphasis.” — Abbott’s Shakespearian Grammar, 
Par. 11. 


SCENE 3 

The plot takes a step forward in this scene, for Silvia per¬ 
suades Sir Eglamour to accompany her on her flight from her 
father to Valentine. The rendezvous at Friar Patrick’s cell 
is a touch that links the play with Romeo and Juliet. 

24 . for. Because. 

44 . confession. Pronounced as four syllables. 

45 - 46 . The scene ends in prose. 


SCENE 4 

The prose soliloquy of Launce, which opens this scene, is 
frankly vulgar, but it is a gem, nevertheless. Launce’s proffer 
of Crab to Silvia in place of the little dog chosen by Proteus 
is an unforgettable bit of low comedy. The conversation 
which follows between Julia, disguised as Sebastian, and 
Proteus, who is sending her to Silvia with the ring that Julia 
herself had given him at parting, points ahead to Twelfth 
Night. Julia’s situation is more pathetic than Viola’s, how¬ 
ever, because of Proteus’s desertion. In the scene between 
Julia and Silvia, Julia is willing to do Proteus’s bidding, so 
much does she love him, but she is thoroughly human, never¬ 
theless, and but for the fact that Silvia had rejected Proteus’s 
love and been sorry for the supposedly absent Julia, Silvia s 

picture would have suffered at Julia’s hands! 

9 . he steps me. The me is the equivalent of the ethical 

dative. • , 

19 - 20 . bless the mark. The phrase is here used as an apol¬ 
ogy for the words that follow. 

41 . Sebastian. Another link with Twelfth Night, where 

Viola’s brother is Sebastian. 

44 - 45 . thou . . . you. Thou is generally used by a master 
to a servant, but as Abbott (Shakespearian Grammar, Par. 232) 


92 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act IV 


points out, “a master finding fault often resorts to the un¬ 
familiar you.” 

66. squirrel. Launce is contemptuous of the dog that 
Proteus had chosen as a present to Silvia. 

94. poor fool. Julia means herself. 

107. yet will I woo for him. Cf. Viola’s words, Twelfth 
Night, i. 4. 44. 

124. a paper that I should not. It is clear enough that 
Julia has been carrying about with her one of Proteus’s 
letters to herself, and that Silvia recognized the handwriting. 
It is a pathetic touch. 

143. Dost thou know her? In Montemayor’s tale there is 
more than a hint for this scene in the passage beginning, 
“Doest thou then know Felismena (said Celia), the lady 
whom thy Master did once loue and serue in his owne coun¬ 
trey?” But the explanation of the pageants at Pentecost is 
Shakespeare’s own, and typically English. 

154. sun-expelling mask. Worn by ladies to protect their 
complexions from the sun. 

158. How tall was she? Cf. Twelfth Night, ii. 4, Viola’s 
description of herself to the Duke. 

159. Pentecost. Whitsunday. The old miracle plays 
(pageants) had been played on religious holidays, the Chester 
plays being given at Whitsuntide. Later, secular pieces, 
such as the one described by Julia, were given. 

161. got me to play the woman’s part. Proof that women 
were not allowed on the stage. 

162. Madam Julia’s gown. This would be a contemporary 
costume for a classical character, as was the custom on the 
Elizabethan stage. 

168. Ariadne. Ariadne’s connection with Theseus is men¬ 
tioned in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ii. 1. 80, along with 
other characters mentioned in Plutarch’s Life of Theseus. 

168. passioning. This use of “passion” as a verb is one of 
the Elizabethan touches in Keats’s Endymion criticized by 
Croker as if it were an invention of Keats. 

190. perfect yellow. The fashionable color, because of 
Queen Elizabeth. 

205. scratch’d out your . . . eyes. Cf. A Midsummer 
Night’s Dream, iii. 2. 298. 


Scene IV] 


NOTES 


93 


ACT V —SCENE 1 

This scene is merely the carrying out of the flight planned 
in iv. 3. 

9. postern. A private door. 

12. recover. Reach. 


SCENE 2 

The flight of Silvia has now been discovered by her father, 
and the chase is on. Shakespeare must get all his characters 
to the forest for the denouement. The ending of this scene 
is somewhat artificial, but the reasons given by Thurio, 
Proteus, and Julia for following after Silvia are all true enough. 

10. black. Swarthy or dark-complexioned. 

13. pearls. There is a play on words here. Pearls, in 
Julia’s speech, refers to cataracts on the eyes. 

26. pities. Despises. 

37. Friar Laurence. Another link with Romeo and Juliet. 

49. peevish. Foolish. 


SCENE 3 

It is necessary for Shakespeare’s purposes that Eglamour 
should run away and leave Silvia in the hands of the outlaws. 

4. team’d. Taught. 

8. Valerius. A name borrowed by Shakespeare from 
Montemayor’s tale, where it is the name taken by Felismena 
as a page. 

SCENE 4 

The denouement in the forest. Silvia has been rescued by 
Proteus from the outlaws, and is, in turn, rescued by Valen¬ 
tine from the clutches of Proteus. Valentine, in concealment, 
has been given evidence of his friend’s treachery, and up¬ 
braids Proteus, who, in turn, repentant because caught, asks 
for forgiveness. His repentance is accepted by Valentine, who 
even goes so far as to offer him Silvia. At this point Julia 
swoons, and her identity is revealed by her ring. Whereupon, 
Proteus turns once more to Julia. May they live happily 
ever after, but knowing Proteus as we do, we are not quite 
convinced! Valentine proves himself more spirited than 


94 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [Act V 


Thurio and is accepted by the Duke as Silvia’s suitor. Even 
the outlaws are pardoned, and the comedy ends, as all good 
comedies should, with happiness for all! 

1 - 3 . How use, etc. These lines point ahead to a similar 
state of mind in the banished Duke of As You Like It. 

15 . Have. The subject “who” is omitted. 

57 . arms’ end. Sword’s point. 

73 . confounds. Singular verb with plural subject. 

83 . All that was mine. Some editors have refused to be¬ 
lieve, as Julia by her swooning evidently believes, that Valen¬ 
tine is here giving up the silent Silvia to Proteus. They would 
make the line mean, “All the love that I felt for Silvia I 
extend to thee.” This seems oversubtle. Valentine’s con¬ 
stancy in friendship, even to the giving up of his betrothed to 
his friend, need not have been a strange idea to the Eliza¬ 
bethans who played with the theme in their sonnets. 

103 . cleft the root. Of her heart. 

106 . such an immodest raiment. The usual attitude of 
Shakespeare’s romantic-comedy heroines who adopt the page’s 
costume. 

129 . Verona. Shakespeare’s carelessness ? 

137 . make such means. Such efforts. 

144 . Plead a new state. Plead for a new standing. A 
rhetorical term; state = “the point in question or debate 
between contending parties, as it emerges from their plead¬ 
ings.” (New English Dictionary .) 

156 . They are reformed, etc. Compare this with lines 
16-17! 

169 . fortuned. Happened. 


APPENDIX 


SHAKESPEARE’S VERSIFICATION 

Shakespeare’s plays are made up of a mingling of prose and 
verse, and though the verse is normally unrhymed or blank, 
there may be, in the earlier plays especially, a fair amount of 
rhyme. 

1. Prose 

The prose in this play is largely that of the comic servants. 
Launce always speaks in prose (with the exception of one or two 
lines in iii. 1), a racy prose in keeping with his character. Speed 
usually speaks in prose, on a slightly higher level, but occasionally 
falls into blank verse when talking with the two gentlemen. The 
host of the inn where Julia lodges in Milan speaks prose, as a 
host should. Prose is also used for the rapid “volley of words” 
between Valentine and Thurio, with Silvia a delighted listener, 
in ii. 4, but with the entrance of the Duke the scene rises to the 
level of blank verse. Again, in iii. 1, the rapid exchange of words 
on the entrance of Proteus and Launce after Valentine has re¬ 
ceived the sentence of banishment is in staccato prose, but the 
conversation that follows between Valentine and Proteus is in 
blank verse, for the subject is the serious one of banishment. 

2. Blank Verse 

A. NORM AND VARIATIONS 

A normal line of blank verse contains five iambic feet, the 
accent falling regularly on the second syllable within the foot 
until the end of the line is reached: 

Methinks' | my zeal' | to Val' | entine' | is cold' (ii. 4. 203). 

If all the lines were so regular, however, blank verse would be 
intolerably monotonous, and so poets, including Shakespeare, in¬ 
troduce variations in the normal rhythm. Actually, the number 
of main stresses may vary, as in the following line, which has 
only four: 

As full' of sor'rows as the sea' of sands' (iv. 3. 33). 

95 


96 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 

In this instance the adverb as is not important enough to take a 
main stress, and when we read the line we hurry over the second 
as to reach the word sea. Thus the actual rhythm fluctuates 
back and forth from the normal rhythm or pattern. 

Another source of variation is the trochaic first foot, where the 
accent comes on the first, instead of on the second, syllable of 
the line: 

He' aft | er hon' | our hunts,' || I' aft | er love' (i. 1. 63). 

In this line there is also a trochaic foot following the cesural pause. 

The effect of change or variation may also be obtained by hav¬ 
ing this cesura, or metrical pause, come at different places within 
the line: 

End of first foot: 

If lost, || why then a grievous labour won (i. 1. 33). 

End of second foot: 

To be in love, || where scorn is bought with groans (i. 1. 29). 
End of third foot: 

But think upon my grief, || a lady’s grief (iv. 3. 28). 
Shakespeare also allows his pause to come in the middle of a foot. 

In the following line it comes in the second foot: 

However, || but a folly bought with wit (i. 1. 34). 

More commonly he allowed it to come in the third: 

Is turn’d to folly, || blasting in the bud (i. 1. 48). 

Blank verse, as Shakespeare found it, commonly employed a 
pause also at the end of the line. In Shakespeare’s great pred¬ 
ecessor, Marlowe, in spite of his fine harmonies of sound, we still 
feel that the line is on the whole a unit by itself. This pausing at 
the end of the line, when the sense is complete and the voice 
drops, is called the end stop. In Shakespeare’s earlier plays the 
end-stopped line predominates, and a sense of stiffness results, 
as in the following passage: 

Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care; 

Which to requite, command me while I live. 

This love of theirs myself have often seen, 

Haply when they have judged me fast asleep. 

And oftentimes have purposed to forbid 
Sir Valentine her company and my court: 

But, fearing lest my jealous aim might err 
And so unworthily disgrace the man, 


APPENDIX 


97 


A rashness that I ever yet have shunn’d, 

I gave him gentle looks, thereby to find 

That which thyself hast now disclosed to me (iii. 1. 22-32). 

On the other hand, when the voice cannot stop at the end of the 
line, and the sense allows no pause, we have what is called a 
run-on line. There are two examples in the passage quoted above, 
lines 26 and 31. As Shakespeare progressed in his art, he em¬ 
ployed more and more run-on lines, and frequently brought a 
sentence or a speech to a close in the middle of a line instead of 
at the end. 1 In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, however, according 
to FurnivalPs tables, the proportion of run-on lines to end-stopped 
lines is only one in ten. 

Another earmark of Shakespeare’s early blank verse which 
gives it an atmosphere of stiffness is the predominance of mascu¬ 
line endings. When a line ends with an accented syllable, as 
does the normal line in blank verse, it is said to have a masculine 
ending. On the other hand, when an extra or hypermetrical 
syllable is added, it is said to have a feminine ending. For ex¬ 
ample, the following passage from a speech by Silvia contains 
only masculine endings: 

I do desire thy worthy company, 

Upon whose faith and honour I repose. 

Urge not my father’s anger, Eglamour, 

But think upon my grief, a lady’s grief. 

And on the justice of my flying hence. 

To keep me from a most unholy match, 

Which heaven and fortune still rewards with plagues. 

I do desire thee, even from a heart 
As full of sorrows as the sea of sands. 

To bear me company and go with me (iv. 3. 25-34). 

Earlier in the speech, however, there is one example of a feminine 
ending: 

Nor how my father would enforce me marry (iv. 3. 16). 

In Shakespeare’s later plays the percentage of feminine endings 
in the blank verse is as high as 35.4 ( The Tempest). 2 In The Two 
Gentlemen of Verona the percentage is rather high for an early 
play, however, since his next play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 
has only 8.2 to 18.4 for The Two Gentlemen. 

1 The percentages of speeches ending within the line, as 
given by Neilson and Thorndike, is 87.6 for The Winter s Tale 
and only 5.8 for The Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

2 Neilson and Thorndike’s tables. 


98 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


B. ABNORMAL VARIATIONS 

There are two kinds of lines to be found in The Two Gentlemen 
of Verona which depart entirely from the iambic norm: 

(1) Lines of six feet: 

Coy looks with heart-sore sighs; one fading moment’s mirth 

(i. 1. 30). 

I thank you, gentle servant: ’tis very clerkly done (ii. 1.111). 
I know him as myself; for from our infancy (ii. 4. 62). 

(2) Lines of three feet: 

Jul. I would I knew his mind. 

Luc. Peruse this paper, madam. 

Jul. ‘To Julia.’ Say, from whom? 

Luc. That the contents will show. 

Jul. Say, say, who gave it thee (i. 2. 33-37). 

Such short lines, as Mr. Warwick Bond suggests, “may possibly 
be regarded as six-accent lines halved to give a briskness to the 
dialogue (stichomythia), and the six-accent lines would be 
natural to an ear accustomed, like our poet’s, to the Alexandrines 
of Brooke.” 


C. PRONUNCIATION FOR SCANSION 

1. Accent. As the accent of many English words has changed 
since Shakespeare’s time, we need to realize the fact in scanning 
the blank verse. The following words should be noted: per¬ 
emptory (i. 3. 71), impor'tune (iii. 1. 145), exile' (iii. 2. 3), perse'vers 
(iii. 2. 28), access' (iii. 2. 60), importu'nacy (iv. 2. 112), sepul'chre, 
(iv. 2. 118 ), for'lorn (v. 4. 12). 

2. Contractions, (a) Many syllables must be slurred to get 
the proper scansion, as emperor's (i. 3. 38), though the same word 
may be given its full value in another line (i. 3. 41). Gentleman 
is usually slurred, as in iii. 1. 64. See also honourable in the same 
line, and gentlewoman (iv. 4.109). Company (iii. 1. 27) is another 
example. 

( b ) Certain unimportant words are to be run together with 
adjacent words, as receive it (i. 2. 40), which should be read 
receiv't. 

3. Expansions. Conversely, many syllables are to be pro¬ 
nounced in a way that lengthens the line. 

(a) hour's = hower's (iii. 2. 7). 
fire — fi-er (i. 2. 30). 


APPENDIX 


99 


(6) An extra e is introduced between the b and the l in re- 
sembleth (i. 3. 84), and between the z and the l in dazzled (ii. 4. 210). 

(c) The final -ed of past tense or participle is frequently to be 
pronounced as a separate syllable, especially at the end of a line, 
as in dazzled (ii. 4. 210), hindered (ii. 7. 27), buried (iv. 2. 108, 
115), discovered (v. 4. 171). 

(d) The ending -ion at the end of a line is usually pronounced 
as two syllables instead of one: transgression (ii. 4. 197), 'per¬ 
fections (ii. 4. 211), expedition (iii. 1. 164), conditions (v. 4. 138). 
Even ocean (ii. 7. 32) is made into three syllables. 

4. Proper names. Proteus is pronounced either as a dissyllable 
or a trisyllable as the rhythm demands. For example, in i. 1. 1 
it is a trisyllable, and in i. 1. 12 a dissyllable. The trisyllable 
pronunciation occurs in i. 2. 14, 97, 113; i. 3. 3, 12, 88; ii. 4. 67, 
184; ii. 7. 7, 71; v. 4. 39, 54, 68. 


3. Rhyme 

1. Doggerel. There are several examples of the irregular, 
“tumbling” doggerel couplets of an older period. It is only in 
Shakespeare’s earliest plays that such doggerel is to be found. 
The lines contain any number of syllables but only four main 
stresses: 

From a pound' to a pin' ? Fold it o'ver and o'ver, 

’Tis three'fold too lit'tle for carrying a let'ter to your lov'er 

(i. 1. 110-111). 

See also ii. 1. 138-143. 

2. Fourteeners. There is one example of the old imabic seven- 
stress line or “fourteener” : 

For often have you writ to her, and she, in modesty, 

Or else for want of idle time, could not again reply; 

Or fearing else some messenger that might her mind discover. 
Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover 

(ii. 1. 168-171). 

3. Alexandrines. There is one example of a six-stress iambic 
couplet: 

He would have given it you; but I, being in the way, 

Did in your name receive it: pardon the fault, I pray 

(i. 2. 39-40). 

4. Alternate rhymes, (a) Alternate rhyming is employed for 
a touch of lyrical beauty in a quatrain on love near the end of the 


100 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


first act. In fact, the second line of the quatrain is by all odds 
the finest poetical touch in the play. 

O, how this spring of love resembleth 
The uncertain glory of an April day. 

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, 

And by and by a cloud takes all away! 

(6) The verses to Silvia discovered on Valentine by the Duke 
take the form of a Shakespearean sonnet with one quatrain lack¬ 
ing. It is interesting to note that both quatrains have feminine 
rhymes: 

My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly, 

And slaves they are to me that send them flying: 

O, could their master come and go as lightly, 

Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying! 

My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; 

While I, their king, that hither them importune, 

Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless’d them, 
Because myself do want my servants’ fortune: 

I curse myself, for they are sent by me, 

That they should harbour where their lord would be 

(iii. 1. 140-149). 

5. Song. The serenading of Silvia, in iv. 2, has given us one 
of Shakespeare’s loveliest lyrics. It was set to music by Franz 
Schubert in 1826, and words and music are now inseparably united. 

6. Heroic couplets. If we had only the evidence of the pen¬ 
tameter rhymes to go by we should be obliged to put the date of 
The Two Gentlemen of Verona later, for the rhymed lines are only 
one in seventeen, — a much smaller number than in any of the 
plays earlier than The Merchant of Venice. Some of the rhyme, 
however, occurs in the give and take of single-line speeches 
(stichomythia), an early device in Shakespeare’s plays. 

Jul. His little speaking shows his love but small. 

Luc. Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all (i. 2. 29-30). 

Pro. Why, then, we’ll make exchange; here, take you this. 

Jul. And seal the bargain with a holy kiss (ii. 2. 6-7). 

The couplets occasionally have feminine rhymes, as in 
Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; 

Though ne’er so black, say they have angels’ faces 

(iii. 1. 102-103). 


APPENDIX 


101 


And, finally, there are the customary rhyme-tags that end scenes. 
Proteus’s blank-verse soliloquies on his love for Silvia close with 
couplets: 

If I can check my erring love, I will; 

If not, to compass her I’ll use my skill. [_Exit. 

(ii. .4. 213-214). 

Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift, 

As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift! [Exit. 

(ii. 6. 42-43). 





















♦ 







# 














GLOSSARY 

Definitions are based principally on The New English Dic¬ 
tionary. 


ABC (ii. 1. 23), an ABC-book; 

a primer or hornbook, 
advice (ii. 4. 207, 208), de¬ 
liberation or consideration, 
agood (iv. 4. 166), in good 
earnest. 

aimed at (iii. 1. 45), guessed, 
allycholly (iv. 2. 27), the 
host’s corruption of “ maly- 
coly,” a form of the word 
melancholy. 

an end (iv. 4. 63), constantly, 
continuously. 

an if (i. 1. 75), an intensified 
“if.” 

awful (iv. 1. 46), worthy of, 
or commanding, respect. 

beadsman (i. 1. 18), one who 
tells beads or prays for an¬ 
other. 

beholding (iv. 4. 174), be¬ 
holden; under obligation, 
boots (i. 1 . 28), helps or 
avails. 

bottom (iii. 2. 53), wind (as a 
skein). 

break with (i. 3. 44; iii. 1. 

59), disclose or reveal, 
broker (i. 2. 41), a go- 

between in love affairs, 
burden (i. 2. 85), bass, or 
undersong. 

catelog (iii. 1. 272), obsolete 
form of catalogue, 
circumstance (i. 1. 84), cir¬ 
cumlocution; (i. 1. 37), 

condition or state of affairs. 


close (v. 4. 117), a union. 
There seems to be also a 
suggestion of “conclusion,” 
and of the “close” in 
music, the conclusion of a 
musical phrase. 

codpiece (ii. 7. 53), “a bagged 
appendage to the front of 
the close-fitting hose or 
breeches worn by men from 
the 15th to the 17th cen¬ 
tury.” 

coil (i. 2. 99), noisy disturb¬ 
ance, turmoil. 

commendations (i. 3. 53), re¬ 
membrances (sent to those 
at a distance); greetings. 

commit (v. 4. 77), commit 
offence. 

competitor (ii. 6. 35), partner. 

conceit (iii. 2. 17), personal 
opinion. 

conceitless (iv. 2. 96), 

thoughtless. 

consort (iii. 2. 84), a singing 
or playing in harmony 
(with stress on first sylla¬ 
ble) ; (iv. 1. 64), company 
(with stress on second 
syllable). 

conversed (ii. 4. 63), kept 
company. 

curst (iii. 1. 343), shrewish. 

deign (i. 1. 155), take or ac¬ 
cept graciously. (The op¬ 
posite of “disdain”). 

depart (v. 4. 96), departure. 

descant (i. 2. 94), “a melodi- 



104 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


ous accompaniment to a 
simple musical theme.” 
discipline (iii. 2. 88), instruc¬ 
tion, teaching. 

dog (be a dog at) (iv. 4. 13), 
be experienced in or adept 
at. 

drift (iii. 1. 18), object (what 
one is “driving at”); (iv. 
2. 83), scheme or plot, 
ducat (i. 1. 140), a gold coin 
of varying value formerly 
used in European countries, 
dump (iii. 2. 85), a mournful 
or plaintive melody. 

earnest (ii. 1. 160), money 
paid as an instalment, a 
pledge of more to come, 
endamage (iii. 2. 43), inflict 
damage or injury upon, 
entertain (ii. 4. 104; iv. 4. 
64), take (a person) into 
one’s services. 

excepted (i. 3. 83), taken ex¬ 
ception to. 

exhibition (i. 3. 69), support 
or maintenance, 
expostulate (iii. 1. 251), dis¬ 
cuss. 

farthingale (ii. 7. 51), a 

hooped petticoat. 

go (iv. 2. 20), walk (as op¬ 
posed to creep or any other 
method of travel), 
gossips (iii. 1. 269), “female 
friends invited to be pres¬ 
ent at a birth.” 

halidom (iv. 2. 136), any¬ 
thing regarded as sacred 
(“much used in 16th cen¬ 
tury in oaths”), 
hammering (i. 3. 18), de¬ 
vising plans laboriously; 
“cudgeling one’s brains.” 


hangman boys (iv. 4. 57), boys 
bad enough for the hang¬ 
man. 

hap (i. 1. 15), fortune, luck. 

impose (iv. 3. 8), behest. 

Imprimis (iii. 1. 273), Latin 
for “in the first place.” 

include (v. 4. 160), bring to a 
close, conclude. 

inly (ii. 7. 18), inwardly felt, 
heartfelt. 

interpret (ii. 1. 98), explain 
the meaning (i.e., of the 
puppet show). 

jolt-head (iii. 1. 289), a block¬ 
head. 

keep (iv. 4. 11), restrain. 

laced mutton (i. 1. 98), a 
strumpet. 

lets (iii. 1. 113), stands in the 
way of, hinders. 

manage (iii. 1. 247), handle, 
wield. 

mean (i. 2. 95), tenor or alto 
part, as intermediate be¬ 
tween the bass and treble. 

minion (i. 2. 88, 92), French 
mignon, a beloved object, 
but here used rather ban- 
teringly as “hussy” or 
“slave.” 

motion (ii. 1. 97), a puppet 
show. 

nice (iii. 1. 82), fastidious. 

nick (out of all) (iv. 2. 76), 
reckoning or account. (A 
notch or nick was once used 
as a means of keeping score 
in the alehouses). 

noddy (i. 1. 117), a silly, 
(simpleton). 




GLOSSARY 


105 


o’erlooked (i. 2. 50), looked 
over; i.e., read, 
over shoes, over boots (i. 1. 
24, 25), “expressing reck¬ 
less continuance in a course 
already begun.” 
owe (v. 2. 28), own. 

pardon (iii. 2. 98), excuse, 
parle (i. 2. 5), talk, conversa¬ 
tion. 

parley to (iv. 1. 60), grant 
interview, hold discussion 
with. 

passioning (iv. 4. 168), show¬ 
ing deep feeling; pas¬ 
sionately grieving, 
pearls (v. 2. 12), cataracts 
(of the eye). 

Pentecost (iv. 4. 159), Whit¬ 
sunday. 

pinfold (i. 1. 108), a place for 
confining stray cattle; a 
pound. 

pound (i. 1. 105), to shut up 
in a pound; impound, 
pox of (iii. 1. 382), an excla¬ 
mation of irritation or im¬ 
patience. 

pretence (iii. 1. 47), intention, 
purpose. 

pretended (ii. 6. 37), in¬ 
tended, purposed, 
principality (ii. 4. 152), a 
spiritual being of a high 
order; one of the nine 
orders of angels in me¬ 
dieval angelology. 
proper man (iv. 1. 10), fine 
fellow. 

puddings (iv. 4. 32), stomach 
or one of the entrails of an 
animal stuffed with a mix¬ 
ture of minced meat, sea¬ 
soning, etc. 

quaintly (ii. 1. 125; iii. 1. 
117), skillfully, ingeniously. 


quality (iv. 1. 58), profession, 
occupation. 

quote (ii. 4. 18, 19), to take 
mental note of; to notice, 
with quibble on “coat” in 
second line, quote being 
often spelled and pro¬ 
nounced as cote. 

record (v. 4. 6), sing of or 
about; render in song. 

relish (ii. 1. 20), sing, warble. 

remorseful (iv. 3, 13), full of 

pity- 

respective (iv. 4. 196), 

worthy of respect or def¬ 
erence. 

road (i. 1. 53; ii. 4. 187), 
roadstead (a nautical term 
for a sheltered piece of 
water where vessels may 
lie at anchor). 

sad (i. 3. 1), serious. 

search (i. 2. 116), probe (the 
wound). 

servant (ii. 1. 103, 111; ii. 4. 
1), here, a professed lover; 
one who is devoted to the 
service of a lady. 

set (i. 2. 81), put music to the 
words; (i. 2. 82), “set 
little by” = have little re¬ 
gard for. 

sith (i. 2. 126), since. 

Soho (iii. 1. 189), a hunting 
call used to direct the at¬ 
tention of the dogs or of 
other hunters to a hare 
which has been started: 
hence used as a call to 
draw the attention of any 
person. 

sort (iii. 2. 92), choose, se¬ 
lect. 

sorted with (i. 3. 63), in 
agreement with. 

stead (ii. 1. 116), help. 



106 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


stock (iii. 1. 309), a dowry; 

(iii. 1. 310), a stocking, 
stomach (i. 2. 68), anger, with 
play upon the word, 
swinged (ii. 1. 85 ; iii. 1. 384), 
chastised, thrashed. (Pro¬ 
nounced “swinjed.”) 

table (ii. 7. 3), tablet, for 
writing memoranda, 
tender (iv. 4. 141), have re¬ 
gard for; (v. 4. 37), adj., 
beloved, precious, 
testemed (i. 1. 148), tipped, 
i.e., presented with a tester 
(sixpence). 

timeless (iii. 1. 21), untimely, 
tire (iv. 4. 186), attire, or 
possibly headdress. 


trenched (iii. 2. 7), carved, 
triumphs (v. 4. 161), public 
celebrations of a festive 
nature. 

unadvised (iv. 4. 123), 

thoughtlessly. 

urinal (ii. 1. 40), “a glass 
vessel employed to receive 
urine for medical examina¬ 
tion.” 

very (iii. 2. 41), true. 

want (iii. 1. 147), lack, 
wink (ii. 4. 98; v. 2. 14), 
close one’s eyes, 
wood (ii. 3. 29), see Notes. 




GENERAL INDEX 


Abbott, A Shakespearean Gram¬ 
mar, i. 1. 25; iv. 2. 141; iv. 
4. 44-45. 

accentuation, i. 3. 71, 77, 84; 
ii. 4. 210; iii. 1. 145; iii. 2. 
28; iv. 2. 108, 115; iv. 3. 44. 
See also Appendix, pp. 98- 

99. 

Alexandrines, i. 2. 39-44. See 
also Appendix, p. 99. 
alternate rhymes, i. 3. 84-87. 
See also Appendix, pp. 99- 

100 . 

Ariadne, iv. 4. 168. 
arms’ end, v. 4. 57. 

As You Like It, ii. 1. 18-26, 76; 
v. 4. 1-3. 

bless the mark, iv. 4. 19-20. 

cleft the root, v. 4. 103. 

doggerel, i. 1. 110-111; ii. 1. 
138-143. See also Appendix, 
p. 99. 

double superlative, iv. 2. 141. 

earmarks of love, ii. 1. 18-26, 
76. 

Elizabeth, Queen, iv. 4. 190. 
emperor, i. 3. 27. 
ethical dative, iv. 4. 9. 

Ethiope, ii. 6. 26. 

Folio, ii. 3. 29; ii. 4. 196; iii. 1. 
81; iv. 1. 49. See also notes 
on Dramatis Personee. 

“for” used for “because,” iv. 
3. 24. 


fourteeners, ii. 1. 168-171. See 
also Appendix, p. 99. 

Friar Tuck, iv. 1. 36. 

geography, i. 1. 71; iv. 1. (stage 
direction); v. 4. 129. 

Hallowmas, ii. 1. 26. 
Holinshed, ii. 4. 201. 

immodest raiment, v. 4. 106. 
irony, ii. 2. 8. 

Keats, iv. 4. 168. 

Leander, i. 1. 22. 

“learn” used for “teach,” ii. 

6. 13; v. 3.4. 

‘Light o’ love,’ i. 2. 83. 
love-book, i. 1. 19. 

malapropism, ii. 3. 3-4; iii. 1. 
216. 

Marlowe, i. 1. 22. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 

3. 3-4, 29; iv. 4. 168, 205. 
Montemayor, iv. 4.143; v. 3. 8. 
month’s mind, i. 2. 137. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 1. 
18-26; ii. 3. 3-4. 

New English Dictionary, v. 4. 
144. See also Glossary, 
p. 103. 

Orpheus, iii. 2. 78. 

Ovid, i. 1. 22; iii. 1. 153. 

Pentecost, iv. 4. 159. 

Phaethon, iii. 1. 153. 
plead a new state, v. 4. 144. 
107 



108 


TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 


Plutarch, iv. 4. 168. 
prisoner’s base, i. 2. 97. 
proverbs, i. 1. 27; iii. 1. 360. 

rhymed couplets. See Ap¬ 
pendix, pp. 100-101. 

Romeo and Juliet, iii. 1. 170 ff.; 
iv. 3. 43-44; v. 2. 37. 

St. Gregory’s well, iv. 2. 84. 
Saint Nicholas, iii. 1. 299. 
Schubert, Franz. See Appen¬ 
dix, p. 100. 

set the world on wheels, iii. 1. 

315. 

singular verb with plural sub¬ 
ject, ii. 4. 72; v. 4. 73. 
song, iv. 2. 39-53. See also 
Appendix, p. 100. 
sonnet, iii. 1. 140-149. See 
also Appendix, p. 100. 
speak in print, ii. 1. 172. 


stage costume, iv. 4. 162. 
stichomythia, i. 2. 25-32. 
subject omitted, v. 4. 15. 
sun-expelling mask, iv. 4. 154. 

textual notes, ii. 3. 29; ii. 4. 
196. See also notes on Dra¬ 
matis Personae. 

Theobald, ii. 3. 29; iv. 1. 

(stage direction); iv. 1. 49. 
thou, i. 1. 25; iv. 4. 44-45. 
time, ii. 7. 86-87; iv. 1. 21. 
Twelfth Night, i. 2. 83; iv. 4. 41, 
107, 158. 

ungartered, ii. 1. 76. 

witchcraft, ii. 4. 201. 
woman’s part (on stage), iv. 4. 
161. 


you, i. 1. 25; iv. 4. 44-45. 































































































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